Victor Wanyama is a vital member of Saints team, that is certain, but is the speculation regarding the Kenyan's future forcing Ronald Koeman to play him every week when tactically he may not be the best option.
When Saints got off to a roaring start last season, their success was based on Ronald Koeman making subtle changes to the midfield when the situation called for it.
In simple terms that meant alternating Victor Wanyama with Jack Cork, when Saints were facing tough opposition Koeman would prefer Scneiderlin and Wanyama to give the team that steel in midfield to win the ball, but when faced with the likes of Sunderland where we would have more possession and the need was not to win the ball but move it quickly and catch teams on the back foot then often Cork would be preferred.
Injury to Cork in December and his subsequent transfer in January meant that this option was not available and although Saints were strong in midfield, it has to be said that in the main they did not play with the same attacking flair in the second half of the season than they did in the first, especially in games when they needed to break down the opposition.
Victor Wanyama wanted to leave the club in August his head turned by Spurs, Saints dug in and refused him permission to leave and offered hi a new 5 year deal, but as the longer that deal sits on the table there is the question as to whether Wanyama is being indulged at the expense of what could be tactically best for the team.
Put simply if they are to persuade him to sign that new contract then he has to be convinced that the team will revolve around him and that means that he has to play every week if fit.
But that like last year may not be the best choice as was shown against Aston Villa at the weekend, with Saints dominating the game we did not need Wanyama's ball winning as much as we might in other games and his strengths do not lie in passing the ball.
When he wet off injured and was replaced by Oriol Romeu, the game canged and i do not just mean because the Romanian scored the equaliser.
Romeu offered more than Wanyama going forward, he was faster, more mobile and able to move the ball quicker to those that could use it, meaning in the final third of the game we got the ball out to the flanks and got it into the box a lot quicker, ultimately it only resulted in the one goal, but it did get Villa on the back foot and although this was not a tactical move by the manager in that Wanyama went off injured, it did beggar the question about whether Koeman is being hampered tactically by the speculation surrounding the Kenyan. when we play teams like Villa where speed of thought is needed ahead of physical strength.
The contract situation needs to be sorted, the longer it goes on the more the insinuation will come out that Wanyama is being played week in week out in a bid to persuade him to stay rather than either his ability or what the team needs tactically.
Signing a new deal would put that question to bed and enable the manager to pick the team with no inference that he is having to pick certain players due to the fact they are being courted by other clubs.
Wanyama is a great player for Saints, one of the most vital in the squad, but that does not mean, and this should be the case with any player, that they are guaranteed a place week in week out, sometimes the manager needs to make a tactical decision and he needs to make that without outside issues perhaps swaying him in a direction that he may not have opted for all things being equal.