Saint Charlie

The financial negotiations will be led by Reed.

VI say he expects to sign a 4 year contract on Tuesday and will earn about €2m a year.

Top player, so good watching him develop into one of the best midfielders in the country and he will be massively missed. Glad he has gone to a genuinely top side. If Wenger thinks Coquelin is of anywhere near Morgan's level then wow. Arsenal have missed out big time. Good luck Morgan, really hope he becomes a truely world class player now. Saints legend and should get a great reception whenever he returns.

I hope at some stage Jay gets a go as the main central striker. Probably has the most allround game of them all, good finisher, decent in the air and has the pace to scare opponents if he can find that sort of form again. I'm also not overly convinced we will play like that all the time and one of Davis or JWP will probably play instead of an attacker a lot, especially away.

Also for Saints they will basically make approx 12m on Morgan even after having replaced him. Should be able to fund a decent CB and maybe another CM from that. Another summer where we quite possibly will have improved the squad without actually spending any money other than what we have received through sales. With the bumper TV cash and a good finish last season, we must be making a decent bit of cash which is a good model.

http://www.vi.nl/web/nieuws/opvolger-clasie-imponeert-als-feyenoordregisseur.htm?channel=phone €10m apparently. So about £7.2m. Seems low!

So basically as I said, 6 minutes before? LOL.

The defending and lack of midfield worried me a lot more!

Jay Rod got 16 or 17 in the PL the season he got injured (missing the last few games). Thats up there with anyone bar the Suarez, Aguero types. Mane has a good goal record. Pelle has scored pretty consistently at club level the last 3 years. Long will always miss presentable chances but otherwise our finishing is pretty good I would say. Juanmi its hard to say. Expect more goals from Tadic, JWP and Davis though this season.

Sounds like this one will move fairly quickly from now if we are going to get him.

@MikeKeegan_DM: #mufc remain in talks with Soton over Morgan Schneiderlin. Potential move not affected by Schweinsteiger's arrival. More @MailSport shortly.

Crook is a complete shyster, they should just ban him from the press conferences. I can't recall any info that he has found which wasn't either already known, a quite from a press conference, or made up.

Although not if it means Spurs...

No. The context of the whole post is clear. Clasie looks quality, I just feel we are collecting a lot of central midfielders who are either: i.) Small ie. Clasie, Reed, Davis, JWP or ii.) Physically weak i.e JWP, Davis As well as Clasie we could use a player with a Wanyama type presence, as a backup for when Wanyama is injured or unavailable, especially as we no longer have Toby to fill in there. No slight on Clasie whatsoever as he looks quality. More squad makeup and having options. In pre season we are playing 4-2-3-1 and IMO Davis and JWP are both poor in the '2'.

Reports suggest the fee could be about 10m if that. Got to be something of a bargain at that price. He is still at the Feyenoord training camp though, so nothing overly imminent. Could debut for us against them!

For me its not so much about Clasie's tenacity but his height. Its not a problem when Wanyama plays, but he won't play 55 games this season. Without him its two or three from JWP, Clasie, Reed or Davis and any combo would get bullied, especially against the more powerful midfields. Partly that is why we used Toby in there when Morgan couldnt play. Have to say that Clasie looks quality as a player though!

@mkrabby also confirmed to Saint Armstrong that its Saints who made the bid. Hopefully we can get it sorted quickly.

@Mkrabby - reliable Journo says "Southampton is concrete for Clasie but still other clubs interested."

Another issue should be Saints refusing to improve the most direct rival we had last season. Would be astonished if we sold him to Spurs even if they offered the 25m.

Spurs still sniffing... Can't imagine Saints would be too keen to sell to them for any price. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3157628/Tottenham-look-enter-race-Morgan-Schneiderlin-following-Manchester-United-s-capture-German-Bastian-Schweinsteiger.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/everton-southampton-set-battle-out-6049644 Another Vlaar report.

They haven't brought in any left backs or been linked to any that Ive seen. Its more likely Dany N'Guessan wins the Balon d'OR next season than Shaw coming back here on loan.

Gasarniga?

But I'm not talking about the players who have already proven themselves to an extent at first team level like JWP, Reed and to a lesser extent Targett. They are first team players whatever their age is. The reason they are and the others aren't is because they are better than Gape, Gallagher etc. None of those who havent already broken into the first team reckoning on a regular basis, like Gape, McQueen, Isgrove etc are going to be PL quality players. That is all, its not an agenda its just my opinion from watching them.

I wouldn't count them as U21s. Nor Reed because they are first team squad players. The likes of McCarthy, Gape, Gallagher will have good careers, but won't be starters at a top 12 PL club in 5 years time, I am fairly certain of that. Perhaps though with one in the first XI lineup its not too much of an issue as they can be helped by the other players, but the PL isn't a forgiving place and you get exposed very quickly if you aren't at that level.