Saints are being rumoured to be ready to offer Morgan Schneiderlin a massive pay deal to stay at St Mary's but is now the time right to move him on ?
Before the shenanigans of last summer I said that if Saint had to lose one player for big money then the one that we could afford to lose is Morgan Schneiderlin.
Of course Morgan is a great player and no club likes to lose players of that calibre but the reality is that if we are going to build a dynasty that lasts then in the short term it is going to be about selling players at their height and for big fees and getting in their replacements cheaper and then repeating the process until as the squad gets stronger players want to stay even when the big clubs come calling.
Morgan Schneiderlin famously wanted to go last summer and I do not blame him for that, to his credit he took the reality of the situation well and agreed to knuckle own and stay, but having done that he and the club know that he deserves a big deal.
Now it seems Saints are willing to offer him that deal and figures of £60-70k a week are being bandied sound, Morgan will be happy it increases his bargaining power and the worse that can happen is he is here next yard on a big salary.
From the clubs perspective they have to be seen to be doing the right thing and that is try to hang on to the player, but the question Is do they truly want to.
Saints are a progressive club and they subscribe to the theory of soccernomics, that says that when you know what a player Is worth to you in terms of goals assists etc and when that value is exceeded you cash in and buy someone who can do the same job and repeat the process becoming stronger along the way.
Saints know they have a plethora of central midfielders and that aside the established players like Wanyama and Steven Davis maybe two of the youngster Ward Prowse and Reed will step up to the plate, so if Schneiderlin is sold for say £25 million and someone like Jordie Clasie is bought for £15 million with a spare £10 million to strengthen the squad further then that is progression not regression.
Of course in an ideal worlds Saints would keep Schneiderlin and indeed all their top stars and invest £90 million each summer in improving the squad, the reality is that isn't going to happen so we have to keep selling the odd player and investing wisely.
So I expect Morgan to go in the summer and I will wish him all the best, there are few players nowadays that I've a club 7 years service as a first team player, he has been loyal and has earned his right to be called a Saints legend, if we him a favour in pushing up his salary by offering him a new contract, not to mention a few extra quid on the transfer fee, then it will be a job well done.