Saints striker Sadio Mane has talked of how he is perfectly happy at St Mary's despite rumours in the press about a move away from Southampton.
In an article in the Daily Echo Sadio Mane has talked about the opening months of the season and how he is happy at Sy Mary's despite unsettling rumours in the press.
Unlike his team mate Victor Wanyama, Mane did not allow these rumours to take away his focus from playing for Saints and he kept his head down, got on with his own game and let his football do the talking.
In the article Mane said.
"In football we always have, like this, many of you move but I have a contract with Southampton,”
"I’m happy here, the fans like me, which means I’m doing my job properly. I’m happy here that’s the most important thing.”
"The more important thing is that they’re here with us,” he said about the summer's new signings at St Mary’s.
"They also have many qualities and this is good for the team and I’m happy for them. They are doing well.”
Quizzed about Saints start to the season Mane replied.
"Yeah, but it is important because I’m here in Southampton.
"I’m happy here, but as the beginning we have some difficulties, but it’s football, you have to forget it and keep going and work hard.”
On his own personal form the Senegalese striker said.
"Yeah, I’m happy, because every player want to score.
"But for the team, the more important was the team, so you score for the team.”
Its good to hear that Mane is happy at St Mary's, but we also know that if he continues his own good start to the season, which has seen him score 4 goals across the three competitions Saints have played in plus as many assists, that he will continue to attract the attention of those so called bigger clubs and Spurs.
It is also good to find out what is important to him.
Sadio Mane has done things the right way in what was a difficult time for him as a player when various people are trying to turn his head and also a difficult time for Southampton Football Club, but it was good to see he took it in his stride.
Im sure that Sadio Mane harbours ambitions of playing for bigger clubs in World football than Saints, it's not good to say those words, but it is reality.
But the real reality is that as we continue to grow and build as a club we will sign better players and those players are going to have those ambitions, that is a sad fact of life, but they would not be the players they are without that drive for the best and perfection, our job as a club is to use that ambition to our own good, get them to achieve their ambitions and in doing so we may achieve a few of our own.
Yes it does mean that we have to ensure that the conveyor belt continues to function properly and we keep bringing in players, but every year we take a step forward in this task, in the summer of 2014 the likes of Liverpool, Spurs & Manchester United thought they could just walk in and sign our players when they wanted, in the summer of 2015 they found that we were not so naive and a lot stronger.
That is setting the bench mark for players who sign as well, they now know that if they do well we will not stand in their way, but the sale has to be for the benefit of Southampton Football Club and we are not going to sell just because a big club thinks it can put a few rumours in the press to unsettle players and then prise them away with a derisory offer.