Saints are being reported to have turned down a £30 million pound offer from Manchester United for Sadio Mane
Several media sources are leading today with the story that Saints have turned down a £30 million pound offer from Manchester united for striker Sadio Mane with Chelsea waiting in the background.
Saints will though be in a dilemma over Mane in the fact that if it is true about the size of the offer it will be fast approaching a fee where the size of it far exceeds Mane's actual value to Southampton Football Club.
Under normal circumstances Saints would be very tempted to take the offer and use it to continue the rebuilding of the squad, however with so many player having left over the last 18 months, the club are under fire from some sections of their support to show that they are the ones calling the shots.
For those supporters that means keeping Mane at the club no matter what and the reality is that should the fee rise to £35 or even £40 million it would represent very good business for a player who has clearly had his head turned and is not producing the goods for Saints with anything like the consistency a player of his calibre should be.
So Saints have to decide whether they should take a good offer now or hold out just to prove a point and end up losing him anyway in the summer for a far lower price.
Manchester United and Lois Van Gaal in particular are clearly desperate to make big money signings to try and kick start their season and ensure that they make the Champions league places, desperate times call for desperate measures and United will be willing to push mane's price up to a far higher level in the frenzy of the January transfer window than they will be willing to do in the relative calm of the summer.