Ronald Koeman has given midfielder Jack Cork till the end of next week to confirm that he will sign a new contract.

It is fair to say that Jack Cork has been a great servant to Southampton Football Club since returning to St Mary's after initially playing on loan during season 2008/09, in his original spell he played 22(1) games in the Championship and in this spell he has played 94(21) and scored two goals, both this season.

However it is also fair to say that at times Cork has been ostracised, not least at the start of last season when despite indeifferent form by the newly signed Wanyama, Mauricio Pochettino refused to play Cork except under exceptional circumstances until Wanyama was injured in the December.

Since then despite excellent form every time he played there has been the feeling that he is second fiddle to the Kenyan and that the two cant play in the same team, at least that is the statistics born out by the number of times the pair have featured in the same side.

This being the case its hard to blame Cork for humming and harring on a new contract, indeed he seemed set to join Crystal Palace in the summer until Tony Pulis left the club pre season.

To lose Cork would be a big blow, especially if we were also to lose Morgan Schneiderlin in the summer as looks likely.

The contract is on the table it now only needs to be signed.

Koeman insists he still wants Cork to remain at the club, but with the transfer window drawing to a close he needs an answer very soon.

He said: “We are still waiting about the answer of Jack and we like to know it next week.”

When asked if it was important for the club’s plans he added: “Of course, because that makes plans for the future, for next season.

“If Jack likes to stay I’m very happy, if he likes to move then that means that we need another midfield player.”

But the problem is that on one hand Ronald Koeman wants things sorted out immediately so not only can he plan for next season but he could consider shipping Cork out and getting a replacement now if the player confirms he is not going to sign at present.

But on the other hand Cork is too good to be a squad player and he will feel that might be his fate if he commits himself now, sohe would probably prefer to see what happens at the end of the season.

Im sure that every Saints fan hopes that Cork decides that what is happening at the club is something he wants to be a part of, it is exciting times and he would be lucky to get better elsewhere in truth, with Palace,West Brom and Hull likely to try and sign him now if he did refuse to sign and Saints decided to cash in and try to buy elsewhere.

With injuries though we cannot afford to let Cork go at the moment and he will know that, but the stalemate needs to end and this is why Koeman perhaps feels the need to go public on it.

Photo: Action Images

arthurfane added 18:55 - Jan 22 Agree with all of that Nick - Cork is a fine player, and has been a more than adequate replacement whenever called upon. In essence, he would be an EXCELLENT squad player, furthering our squad depth considerably (not least from his ability to also play RB), but he simply won't start any games with Wanyama and Schneiderlin at the club (you could even say Harry Reed too, he's been immense!) and a player of Jack's quality is deserving of REGULAR Premier League game time. I think he's been a fantastic servant to the club, and would love to see him stay, but he'll want guarantees of game time and we can't offer him that - he should have clubs at a higher level than those mentioned, sniffing around. I think Jack would be a great signing for a club like West Ham/Swansea - comfortable top half teams (Swansea actually struggle in CM too...) and genuinely think he should get England caps if he fits well into another top half Prem team - his position is exactly what England are lacking atm. Good luck Jack, would love to keep him, but we simply can't!

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Chesham_Saint added 20:10 - Jan 22 If we really do aspire to be a serious force then every player can expect to be rotated and its therefore important to keep players of Cork's ability.
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SonicBoom added 20:15 - Jan 22 Plus Schneiderlin is likely to go in the summer so Jack could have a chance to play more in future. I doubt RK has made that promise though as we don't know who else he plans to bring in.
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ClickInsect added 22:59 - Jan 22 Goes back to the Sol Campbell principle. I don't know how much Jack Cork is worth, but based on figures recently, let's say 8m for an English 25 year old in a specialist position with proven premiership quality. The figures going around are, that he is on 20k a week & that he was offered 40k a week to stay. He won't be offered first team guarantee but history shows that because of his quality and attitude he always ends up getting games. If he leaves, then the club buying him get an 8m windfall straight away, which his agent can use to get him a far richer deal. So depending on how desperate they are, he might get a 4m golden handshake and a 75k a week contract & still have the buying club saving at least 4m because getting English home-grown players is both difficult and expensive. Jack to go to a club paying him more and be in the same situation squad wise as he is with Saints OR he could go somewhere he is sure that he's likely to play. Either way, not much of an upside to resigning with us. Particularly when we took him for every bit of that term he'd signed for, when others like Gaston were on three times his salary and doing nothing for the club. What we should have done, with both Jack & Maya and any player in this situation going forward, is to not let them get into the last 24 months of contracts. I understand the club doesn't want the commitment of long-deals and they also have to pay agent fees, signing fees & raises every time they get somebody on a new deal. But if it's a solid, good pro in his mid-20s like those two, you aren't going to be in a situation where you can't get rid of them for love nor money, unless of course they get injured. We should have given Maya and Jack new contracts last summer, then if we don't want them, you list them in the summer coming and take whatever fee they are worth. It's nonsensical letting players of proven premiership quality go out of contract when they aren't even in peak years yet. Ron didn't know if he fancied either player, but was no reason not to give them contracts I'd say.

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