If you believe the media then Saints have slapped a £40 million price tag on Sadio Mane's head and Manchester United are about to test their resolve.

Back in August Manchester United supposedly offered £20 million for Sadio Mane and Saints turned it down, in fairness to Mane if it happened, unlike his colleague he made no noises of discontent or petulance and just got on with his job.

Perosnally I don't think the bid was made, it's generally accepted that United were trying to deflect attention of the fact that they had let the signing of Pedro from Barcelona slip through their hands at the final hour and big rivals Chelsea had snatched him.

Certainly tough if they thought briefing the media they were chasing Mane was going to placate their armchair army they were mistaken and many United fans expressed strong views that signing a virtually unknown Senegalese striker was not going to placate them.

But all this is enough to start the media salivating that United are coming back in with an offer, athough they seem to be unable to make up their mind whether Mane is a direct replacement for Wayne Rooney or a winger.

So the rumours are now flying thick and fast, United are about to launch a bid ! Saints have slapped a £40 million price tag on his head ! He is going nowhere ! The rumours veer from one extreme to the other and no one is quite sure wha to believe.

So the big question is whether United are actually serious about signing Mane, back in August United's supporters were underwhelmed by Mane's scoring record, last season he scored 10 league goals, with 3 of them being in the final game.

This season he has hit just 3 and these aren't the figures that the Old Trafford faithful are looking for.

Ironically these rumours are surfacing almost a year to Mane's lowest ebb at Saints, tat was at Sheffield United when Saints went tamely out of the Capital One Cup and Mane was abused by his own supporters who felt that 1 solitary goal in 11 games in the Premier League was not good enough.

But that was the low point and Mane then scored in each of the next three Premier League games to show wat he was capable of. But his departure to the African Cup Of Nations did not help him and on his return 2 goals in 12 games was restoring him in the eyes of some supporters to his former status as a waste of money. These were a minority, but they were a very vocal minority, especially at away games.

He ended the season strongly scoring in the defeat at Sunderland and then that hat trick against Aston Villa and it was perhaps that which brought him onto most peoples radar, up to that game the jury was very much out on Mane, 7 goals was not setting the World alight, opinion was divided amongst the Saints supports and Mane was barely known outside of it. The hat trick changed everything.

This season has been a little stop and start for him and in many respects not one that would be linking him with the big clubs, 3 Premier League goals is not a great total, out of 13 games and is the same as the 1 in 3 ratio he ended up with last season.

That is not a record that would normally have the big clubs drooling over you, there are many players with a better record than him this season, so why is he being linked with Manchester United ?

I think the answer lies merely in the fact that United were linked in August, ts a cheap easy headline to dredge up now, United are trying to recapture former glory, they are only going to do that by signing players who are proven at the highest level for the biggest clubs, they cannot afford another season of winning nothing and seeing overpriced underperforming players in their squad, they have to sign the best or risk being a best another Arsenal, always there or thereabouts and not winning anything, or at worst another Liverpool slowly losing touch with teams that once they were light years in front of.

But elling Mane is very much in Saints plans, it was fro the very moment they signed him, this does not make us a selling club, it makes us one with a strategy and a strategy that is tried and tested at some of the top clubs on the Continent.

That strategy is to keep building and improving the squad by buying in players, building the potential into something tangible and then selling when the price is more than right.

Of course it relies on continually buying well, but that is the case whatever your strategy.

The good thing is the more that the strategy works, the easier it s to keep implementing it, a year ago our squad had much less depth, now it has much more.

That means we can afford he odd player that doesn't work out, last season we had no leeway, now we have more breathing space and e are now more in control of how we do things.

So it will be in Saints strategy to sell at least one player for big money in the summer, they know the worth of every player and when that valuation is exceeded ten it is time to sell, in truth its one that served the club well from the days of Ted Bates onwards, now however it is more refined and much more planned.

Saints supporters have to recognise this and realise that not every sale is a disaster, it is an opportunity, to say if we had kept all our players we would be in the top four is wrong, we would not have had the money to invest in the squad, we would have had a great starting line up but little else, that would have meant that when injury or suspension kicked in we would have suffered, the top four clubs stay there for one reason and that is not a quality starting XI, its a quality squad and that is what Saints have to achieve and it won't be don overnight, indeed look at a year ago, we were bringing on kids off the bench, this year ts Internationals.

So if every player has his worth, how much is Sadio Mane worth to Saints ? what figure do we think the club would accept for him ?

The alleged £40 million is a smokescreen, he is not worth that, his statistics don't lie and any potential buyer will look at those as part of any evaluation process.

Saints will probably consider bids above £20 million and £25 million being a snatch your hand off situation.

But they do not want to sell in January, they will prefer to do business in the summer.

However January transfer windows are always overpriced, we are top heavy with strikers, we will already be looking at options f United are serious, we will be planning and looking at what the impact of his moving will be and how that can be softened.

Part of that process will be in where we are in January, f we are still in with a shout of the top five and in the semi finals of the Capital one Cup hen we will not sell, if our season has dipped and Sadio Mane is the subject of a £25 million bid then I would not be surprised if we at least considered it.

If the players scoring record has not improved then to be blunt £25 million for a 10 goal a season striker is good money, after all Saints fans complained about paying less than half that for Shane Long a man with a record of around that ratio.

So how much do you think Sadio Mane is worth ? Give your valuation by giving a comment below and voting in the poll on the right hand side of the page.

Photo: Action Images

A1079 added 11:35 - Nov 25 The club should not even be discussing it at this stage of the season, at least, not openly. We cannot afford him to go in January. Though I don't think he is worth £40m, when he is not in the team we miss something. Lose him in January and we are unlikely to find a suitable replacement and our season will fade away. We cannot keep losing our better players. Van Dijk apart, I don't think our squad has become better or stronger from our purchases this summer. Soares is ok and doing well, but not as good as what we had, Juanmi - so far is a long way off, Clasie - slowly getting better but taking too long when we need people up and running if we seriously want to compete at all levels, though I think he will be ok in the end.

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saintmark1976 added 11:39 - Nov 25 Nick whilst I respect your view as always I just can not let your comment of "this does not make us a selling club" go unchallenged. Bearing in mind the events of the last two close seasons when off the top of my head we have sold seven of our best players,what exactly in your opinion would constitute a "selling club" then? In my opinion our business plan would appear to indicate that we need to sell just to tread water.Personally I have no problem with this plan and short of a massive stadium expansion to create additional revenue I accept that nothing much is going to change. Maybe I am wrong but at the moment I am not in denial of the situation in which we find ourselves.

3

SaintNick added 11:56 - Nov 25 Firstly, the club is not discussing it, it is all media driven, they are keeping quiet, there is no direct quote from the club on Mane's value, all made up in the media. Secondly in some respects, everyone is a selling club, but everyone is at different levels. the sale of the summer of 2014 was more players than we really wanted to, but we replaced them with better in all aspects and of the 5 sold then I would have said only Lallana was truly integral to our plans going forward, the rest were not expendable. This summer has been different in that Clyne and Schneiderlin were both at the top of their game, but thy have been replaced and the squad is stronger, look at our bench a year ago when we lost to Burnley and Sheffield United and look at it now. We cant expect instant success , but overall the season is going well 8th is fine and if we had of beaten Stoke then 5th place with 23 points was only 3 less than last year, ok we didnt beat them, but it shows we are not far behind last year in what we are doing and by Xmas could easy have more points on the board than last year

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Jesus_02 added 11:59 - Nov 25 I think £40m would represent an extremely successful season. TBH net income of £50m for Mane and Big Vic would represent consistent achievement over the last 3 years. Nick we ARE a selling club ..its how we measure our success these days
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DPeps added 12:53 - Nov 25 when it comes to selling players, we should be asking 'is this player replaceable?' I liked Clyne but he was replaceable (although not sure that Cedric is the man).I like Big Vic but he's replaceable. Mane is not replaceable in my opinion. He's not the finished product yes but he's got pace, skill, positional awareness all together. As others have said we are often poor without him. Other clubs do stand firm against the big clubs when they come a-knocking for their irreplaceable players - e.g. Everton and Stones. My view is that if the clubs wants to get to the next level we need to not sell our irreplaceable players. But I doubt the club sees it that way

3

abingdonsaint added 13:32 - Nov 25 Every club other than Barcelona and Real Madrid is a selling club. The only reason we sell more than most is we have more players other clubs want to buy. Very simple! Everton kept Stones because he had only just extended his contract, in the same way we held on to Schneiderlin and Wanyama. He will go eventually though, as will De Gea from Manure in the summer.....

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abingdonsaint added 13:39 - Nov 25 PS.......all academic in this case as the bid itself is no doubt made up by the media, and Koeman has already stated we will not be selling anyone in January!
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BoondockSaint added 13:51 - Nov 25 Yes "all clubs are selling clubs" but the successful ones are also "buying clubs" I have no problem if we buy a player for 10 million and then sell him for 40. But we better then go out and buy a 30 million player! That strategy would move us up the table= more FA and TV money=better players. Pundits talk about the big money coming in next year, and how it will help teams like us hang on to players-but that's a load of rubbish since the bigger clubs will get even more money, it will only inflate prices and wages. We need to develop new and existing revenue streams: expand the stadium (cheap tickets if we have to-we'll make money on concessions, etc), discount prices for blocks of tickets to schools all around the catchment area-develop future supporters.,an overseas supporter club to sell more gear and expand the brand, and find a better market to develop than Baltimore-(what's next? Antartica?)

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abingdonsaint added 14:00 - Nov 25 In fairness, Saints have reinvested the majority, and I think I'm right in saying that since we have been in the PL we are the 7th highest spenders, after the usual suspects. However, players in the £30m bracket will also command a salary beyond our current scale. Gradual growth is the key. I would say we are doing ok so far though. Ask some Sunderland or Villa fans!

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welhamdowed added 15:10 - Nov 25 Slam dunk Yes. Until we become a 'final destination' club i.e. pay big wages, we aren't in a position to turn down that sort of money for a player.
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IWOZTHERE added 15:17 - Nov 25 Boondock has got it in one re. the pitiful amount we spend on replacing big money outgoings. I agree that the squad has more depth, but numbers don't mean quality. Mane is still a 'raw' youngster but with his pace he would be almost impossible to replace.Nevertheless, I'd sell him for really BIG money (and Vic as well) if I was convinced that it would benefit us on the playing side in two ways. Firstly we'd have to buy quality, not just 'pad out' the squad again, while at the same time using the surplus to close the 'wages gap' in respect of our top players. Can't see us ever 'breaking the mould' otherwise. As for 'Not being a selling club'.........Generally we receive plaudits for our dealings in the transfer market, but it's invariably patronising and regarded in some quarters as more like a long running joke.

1

BaselSaint added 15:41 - Nov 25 We should rename Ronald Koeman `King Midas` or `Goldfinger` as everything he touches....
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Toussaint added 18:41 - Nov 25 The first question at the forum somebody suggested Manes value around 20 million and Les Reed laughed at the guy .i think he said something like,`and the rest`
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aceofthebase added 20:59 - Nov 25 The players on the bench do not gain the points, it's the players on the pitch and at the moment I don't think we have the quality of player and that is because our replacement players are too lightweight. Thank goodnes we have Bertrand VVD Fonte and sometimes Davis and Wanyama. As for having enough forwards well if they can't score goals they are useless Mane is a real hot and cold player, outstanding or just standing but still the best of the bunch at the moment. He would be a loss but value must be about £20 mil.

1

perazi added 22:48 - Nov 25 Nick; I'd challenge a couple of things in your article. Firstly, the 3 goals in 13 games for Sadio is a misleading statistic taken in isolation. Mane's contribution, variously as striker, winger, attacking midfielder creates much uncertainty in defences, frees up space and brings other Saints players into attacking positions. He has also provided a lot of direct and indirect goal assists - he really is a uniquely creative player with blinding speed as an extra - you really are selling his value short in quoting a goal tally. As for 25 million being a "snatch your hand off" price, I'm very sure the decision makers at the Club would not be agreeing with you. Sadio Mane is a special talent; we should do everything we can to extend his contract. The side looks very average without him and while 40 million pounds or less is a lot of money the chances of picking up 2 - 3 replacements to cover his contributions is far from certain.

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BUCK added 22:59 - Nov 25 Until saints break the global market, we will always be a selling club. Every club is and every player has a price. If reached, any club will sell simple as that.
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