Southampton could be a lot keener in cashing in on Sadio Mane than they would care to admit as rumours of a move to Liverpool get stronger.

On paper Sadio Mane has a reasonable set of statistics for Saints, however analysis of those statistics aligned with having watched the player in most of his games would suggest a different story.

Both of Mane's seasons at Saints have seen him go through long periods where he did not score wit only a late hat trick near the end of the season making his goal scoring figures look reasonable.

That was the case last season where his 11 goal in 30(7) looked a good figure, however he went over five months without scoring in the Premier League, a period that ncluded a lot more indifferent games than ones where he truly looked quality.

That goal scoring figure was, like the season before boosted with a late flourish, 6 goals came in the last 5 games, indeed 8 in the last 8 and although that ultimately pushed Saints into 6th spot, the feeling was that they could have achieved that or higher a lot earlier had Mane scored regularly between October and March when he went five months without a goal.

Therefore it seems Saints know the value of Mane to the team and if they can prise over £30 million from someone for Mane that will be good business.

Manchester United were never interested and even less so now Jose Mourinho is in charge at Old Trafford, but it seems Liverpool are and Saints are rumoured to be interested in a deal at the prices being quoted.

Some reports say the two clubs are already in talks, although that may be a little premature.

Saints strategy these days is that every player has a price and the same of Mane along with the £16 million or so already brought in from the departures of Koeman and Wanyama would give us a great transfer kitty, that would mean that again we could replace those two players with not only two of equal stature, but perhaps some change left over to strengthen the squad in other areas.

Ths is the Southampton way, we cannot compete with the spending power both in transfer fees and wages of at least 6 clubs in the Premier League, possibly 8 if you add Everton and West Ham, but we have shown that by taking a different strategy that just throwing money at every problem that we can compete and be successful.

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bigmart added 09:28 - Jun 25 The Saints board are taking their time over the new manager, perhaps the delay is because they are waiting for Laurent Blanc to leave PSG. I read that he will leave at the end of this week.
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abingdonsaint added 09:57 - Jun 25 Not sure that replacing Mane will be as easy as you think. He can be erratic, but is a genuine game changer. They do not grow on trees. Don't think we had a lot of choice with Vic, but Sadio not in his last year of contract, so would hope now Koeman has gone he may be happy to stay!
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perazi added 10:00 - Jun 25 Nick - you've completely underestimated Mane in most of your articles. He's a brilliant player with the brightest of futures in front of him. Who do you think we are going to replace him with? Thirty or forty million pounds might buy Nathan Redmond and two others - do you really think they will equal the attacking contribution Sadio has delivered? This is one player we should be breaking the bank to keep.

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Chainatlad added 10:22 - Jun 25 perazi i agree Mane needs to be kept, yes he went 5 months without a goal and was wrratic in his form, just maybe that was down to a falling out with Koeman as rumoured, who knows. £30M+ fo him would be great but who can we get to replace him, Redmond has done nothing in the premiere league and is very inconsistent whilst scoring few and creating little. We have a quality player and need to keep him, you can not keep progressing as a club like we have by continually selling and replacing, we need some stability. I say offer him a new extended contract, make him an offer he cant refuse.

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highfield49 added 10:24 - Jun 25 I'm with the club on this one. If Liverpool want to pay over the odds,again, that's a much better deal than Saints having to let Wanyama go on the cheap because his contract has run down. My assumption (although I try never to never assume!) is that Mane was offered a new deal and declined to sign. Also I believe the Redmond deal is a good one, if it happens, JWP knows him well from the England set up and he could be a genuine replacement for Mane.

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IWOZTHERE added 10:26 - Jun 25 'Throwing money at every problem' ? Are we talking about the same club? A club which sells Key players for big bucks and hopes that cheap replacements can perform in arguably the toughest league in the world? Some will cite Osvaldo and Ramires. Some will talk about Staplewood and inherited debts as justification for the club's policy on transfer spending, but these issues are history and as far as I know we are 'in the black.' As we stand now, it is likely that we will bank £140m in TV/place money and the two transfer fees.There is no excuse this summer for not buying quality to strengthen in at least three obvious positions.QUALITY not like the squaddies we brought in last summer, VVD apart.I'm not suggesting we 'blow' 100m or anything like it, but MS and NC were not replaced adequately last year and we need to re-dress the balance as well as replacing Mane. That may mean making inroads into a bit of the TV money but to even maintain our current position it will take REAL invesment not just re-cycling the money we get from sales.

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Bulgarian added 10:29 - Jun 25 As Adam Leich said at the discussion panel two days ago, sometimes letting players go is healthy for the Club for various reasons. I think this is the case with Vic and Mane. The Senegalese had his moments with us - both magic and controversial, and 30 mln is more than sufficient to improve the squad with 2 quality players. We have to accept today's Saints FC is a platform to enhance your image and experience and move on to the richer clubs if some of them come calling. But our strategy is there and so far it has proved to be working perfectly. I'm positive the Club is run in an extremely healthy way. We have a plan, let's stick to it and see if we can maintain our prestigeous status in PL. Any Saints fans spending the end of July in Bulgaria are welcome to join us at the Third national meeting of the Bulgarian Saints in the mountain resort village of Bozhentzi (details: tangalog@abv.bg).

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bstokesaint added 10:38 - Jun 25 Sorry Nick, agree with Perazi. The stats don't lie and he could be more consistent, but he's a game changer. We are officially a top 6 club in Europe now. We should be keeping more players and telling rivals (that finished below us) where to go. If we're on insistant on selling we need to stick by our guns and charge top rate, ie £40m. Top clubs will soon be deterred from buying duff players from stupid money. Basically put up or p*** off. Clubs like Liverpool and Spurs will continue to leech from us as they view as weak and keen to sell players at a price they're prepared to lose.

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bstokesaint added 10:45 - Jun 25 I also find it degrading listening to Liverpool and Spurs fans constantly covet our players. We are perceived to officially be a feeder club. Sometimes it's just hard to stay proud when other clubs look at you like you're bottom of the food chain. I make it sound like I don't believe in the Southampton way. Actually I do. Just think we're now a top 6 club, we need to man up and push on with our best players.

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DPeps added 11:01 - Jun 25 I was going to post but IWOZTHERE has said it all! I'm sure Les Reed or Kruger said we wouldn't sell to our rivals any more.
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IanRC added 11:08 - Jun 25 As I have said before it will be a very poor call by the club if he goes, he is a genuine game changer as others have said. He is almost my first name on the scoresheet.
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DPeps added 11:09 - Jun 25 Actually, can't find either Reed or Krueger ever saying that, so I might have dreamt it. But that should be the policy!
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SanMarco added 11:15 - Jun 25 "Saints are keen". I assume by Saints we mean at the moment Les Reed. If he is 'keen' to move on Mane for the right footballing reasons then fine (although why not wait for the new manager who will hopefully know more about football than Les). If 'keen' means rolling over meekly and taking the money then not fine. The last two and a half lines of bstoke's second post say exactly what I was going to finish with. We ARE bigger now.

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densham41 added 11:27 - Jun 25 Remember Mane through his toys out the pram last Aug and in my opinion cost us a Europa League spot. in regards to him as a player he's inconsistent. One good game then several average games, he plays for himself not the club. Unless you pay him way more than he's worth in wages he will not sign a new contract. Keep him for a year and loose 20 million in transfer funds and have a sulking player on your hands. Sell him for 30 million and trust the club to invest wisley.

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highfield49 added 11:29 - Jun 25 There is of course the possibility that a new manager has been briefed on the squad and is willing to let Mane move on? Also, anyone out there any knowledge of how UK leaving EU effects the Bosman ruling? As I understand it the ruling only effects transfers between EU member countries, would that mean in future that players couldn't let their contracts run down and get a free transfer? Or as an affiliate to European football do Bosman rules apply to all countries?

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the_saint added 11:31 - Jun 25 Would not like to see mane go as like said before he is a game changer but for 30+ million would take it. we all knew wanyama was going and I wish him well and will acknowledge him when he comes back to st Mary's. You can never blame players for moving on and increasing their salaries, it's all about how they conduct themselves on the lead up and the transfer. Not like Lovren who is the only person I have ever booed. Think our club has been run very well in the last several years and would never spend the silly money some clubs do. We march on

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BUCK added 11:36 - Jun 25 Getting rid of mane will clearly show we are a selling club. When is this ever going to stop. I am sick to death of saints selling our best players. If we sold mane and he has one consistent season and score 20 odd goals amd a dozen assists,are we going to regret it,YES. Ffs saints needs to show other teams WE DO NOT SELL, and certainly to our rivals.and Liverpool are one of them. Time to say NO Saints board.before I go insane

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the_saint added 11:56 - Jun 25 The trouble is it will never stop as we can't match other clubs pay structure all we can do is buy cheap sell high. I hate it as much as the rest but it is the way it is, the club is not going to put itself at risk again.
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helpineedsomebody added 13:00 - Jun 25 IWOZTHERE you all so forgot to mention saints havent touch any tv money for the last 2 seasons & are they going to spend any this season.
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the_saint added 13:14 - Jun 25 Proberly not as us fans see saints as a football club where to the owners it's a business
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WanderingSaint added 13:59 - Jun 25 Mane whilst great at the start and end of the season, he just cannot seem to play in the English winter, Oct – Feb. If the relatively mild Southern winter weather is too cold for him then I can’t see him improving in the North West (trust me I lived there for years). £30M would be great money for him. If the last 3 years has taught us anything, it’s that we should have more trust and faith in our board.

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PezzaSaint added 14:27 - Jun 25 Personally quite happy to see Mane go at that price. Whenever I've seen him play I've thought he seems very arrogant and not really a team player. We've done well at getting some decent players in over the last couple of seasons and we could get 2-3 with the Mane money. He won't sign a new contract and so his value will only diminish over time anyway.
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bstokesaint added 14:36 - Jun 25 So say we sell Wanyama for £11m and Mane (cheaply) for £30m, then we have £41m. Then we had the Konman compo. What was that? £3m? So that's £44m. Then we've got improved sponsorship money and improved Europa and PL TV money. Is it unrealistic to assume we'll have £70-£80m to spend without dipping into the owner's coffers. I don't think it's asking too much to see that kind of money spent on 3-5 really good players. I appreciated I've not factored in wages or agent fees, but we didn't even have a net spend last year did we? I don't want to see KL feeling like she's being bullied into personally investing her family's money, but some revenues should be going back into improving the squad. I'm not convinced players like Cedric and Martina are upgrades, although time will tell.

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kingolaf added 15:12 - Jun 25 The Southampton Way seems to have been written by Rupert Lowe. That went well, especially the relegation. Beginning to lose faith.
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the_saint added 15:29 - Jun 25 I may be wrong but I think we have only ever spent what we have received in fees.all businesses care about is profit margin. I really can't see us spending any more than transfers we receive.so if bstokesaint calculations are right that would be 44 m to spend the rest I think will end up in the coffers. Rich people aren't rich by chucking their money around.
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