Whilst most media speculation has been about other more high profile players leaving St Mary's , speculation about Dusan Tadic has gone very quiet over the past six weeks.

At the end of last season it was assumed that Dusan Tadic had played his last game for the club, Tadic was on the verge of going a year ago after fall outs with Ronald Koeman, however with the Dutchman's departure Tadic decided to stay and hope things would be better under Claude Puel.

The answer though was a stark and resounding no ! leading Tadic to publicly complain about how the French manager was using him and it seemed like there was no future at the club for the Serbian especially since the arrival of Sofiane Boufal with many Saints fans of the opinion that there was not enough room for both of them in the same team, both being flair players.

Initially after the season ended the media carried several stories about Tadic's imminent departure with various reports suggesting that Liverpool, West Ham and even Inter Milan were interested in signing him.

Tadic has three years left on his contract, a deal signed only a year ago and it is reported that he has a buy out clause of around £13-14 million although this is unstantiated.

The last rumour linking him with a move away from St Mary's was 5-6 weeks ago at the start of June and since then little has been heard about whether Tadic is prepared to stay and see whether he features in Mauricio Pellegrino's plans or if he has decided that enough is enough and needs a fresh challenge.

On his day Tadic was a decent player, but too often last season he did not appear motivated especially in the second half of the season when he was clearly at odds with Puel.

Certainly there are two issues for him to consider, firstly the type of formation that the new manager will play, it is likely that although he will use two wide players, he will use them in a different way from Puel and that might not suit Tadic.

Secondly there is the Boufal question, Pellegrino will have a few options to use out wide, obvious ones include Nathan Redmond, & Sofiane Boufal and then of course there is Shane Long who played a wider role under Ronald Koeman and of course Josh Sims. Thats five players for two positions.

But the main rival would seemingly be Sofiane Boufal, there are some who would claim both are two similar in style to play in the same team, both are ball players rather than grafters, in today's Premier League could a team of Saints standing get away with both in the same team ? against the likes of Burnley at home perhaps, but not against the bigger clubs and in most away games.

So it would suggest that one of them would have to go and Saints would need to decide which, Boufal only having signed a year ago for a big fee would be highly unlikely to recoup anywhere near what we paid after his season last year, although the fleeting glimpses he showed his quality suggest that we could yet see the best of him.

In this situation Saints might consider that cashing in on Tadic now is better business.

The next few weeks will be interesting in terms of Tadic's future and whether the rumours of some big club's circling had any substance or where more a case of his agent trying to stir up interest.

Photo: Action Images

Sanguin added 10:43 - Jul 19 Tadic’s ability to create chances is still valuable. His finishing last season was woeful but he can still fit into the team. As I’ve highlighted before, Tadic seems to fall out with every manager he’s ever played under. He fell out with Koeman, he fell out with Puel and he fell out with the last Serbia boss: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3503222/Southampton-s-Dusan-Ta He has a lot to contribute, but he also has a very high opinion of himself and this leads him to act childishly and fall out with managers. At 28, I don’t think he’s likely to change and become more professional. I would just be worried about selling him to a Premier League rival since I think for his first six months at a new club he’ll feel he has something to prove and step up a level, similar to the way he did when he first joined Saints.

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larry12 added 10:45 - Jul 19 Bit of a Championshipp squad, so he will be lucky if he is spirited away from "No Goals" Saints this window.
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ExiledSupporter added 10:56 - Jul 19 Last year was a very fractured season for Boufal, for all sorts of obvious reasons. He has very considerable latent talent and is young enough to be given time by the club and the supporters to flourish. Tadic on the other hand has attitude and is unpredictably moody, making him erratic and unreliable at times. On balance I would prefer we were going to get a Gylfi Siggurdson type player (in my dreams given his price) and play Boufal on the left side with Redmond on the right. The former needs experience and mentoring, the latter needs discipline and more clinical finishing. But we do need a strong playmaker at No.10 as we have for a number of years (i'm not talking about Maybot here!) as we had hoped Ramirez might have been and I suspect Boufal could be, but not this season. A much more mature and seasoned player in this role for 2 to 3 years would be a wise move, although quite different from our normal strategy.

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SaintBen added 12:37 - Jul 19 A few weeks ago there were rumours of us going for Zlatko Junuzovic of Werder Bremen, a typical Number 10, creative player with a skill for taking free kicks... Agreed he is about to turn 30, which is not inline with the Saints recruitment policy, there could be some truth in our interest for him... I think if Tadic does end up going, we'll look to get a like-for-like replacement (who is slightly more consistent!) ;-)

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bstokesaint added 12:48 - Jul 19 I think Sanguin makes a good point about Tadic falling out with everyone. That is interesting because I remember Adam Blackmore saying once how off the pitch he is a nice, quiet and unassuming guy. I'm guessing the changing room changes him. It does worry that Saints' struggle to find top attacking talent like they do defenders and midfielders. Osvaldo, Ramirez, Tadic and Boufal have all been big signings and although there is obvious talent offered with all of these, they all seem to have a bigger chip on their shoulders (with the exception of Gaston) than their price warrants. Mane appears to be the only real success story in recent seasons, with Redmond still to produce any consistency. Personally I wouldn't be too gutted to see Tadic or Boufal shipped out. I think both are more into themselves than the team. I might be wrong but that's the impression I get from how they currently come across.

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GeordieSaint added 13:34 - Jul 19 We would be mad to let him go, hasn't he got the 4th highest amount of assists in the last 3 seasons? If anything he should be given more freedom and responsibility as he is a genuine creator. Love tadic, just give him the ball!
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SaintBrock added 15:33 - Jul 19 Yet another pointless article with no basis in fact.
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charlie357 added 16:14 - Jul 19 It's an opinion piece SaintBrock...
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BoondockSaint added 16:23 - Jul 19 OK, so Tadic has a temper, but at least he plays with a bit of fire! Last season it seemed he was the only one on the team who cared about winning or losing. I lost count of the times last year when we needed a goal and Puel would pull Tadic off to be replaced by a player who would just play knock-about for the last 20 minutes. If Boufal doesn't learn how to pass to a team mate in the first half of this season, he should be out the door in January.

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DPeps added 16:55 - Jul 19 Boufal and Tadic are actually quite different players so there is room for both, although perhaps not in the same starting line-up. I remember seeing an amazing stat towards the end of the season: Boufal had the most dribbles in our team. That's pretty amazing seeing as he didn't play that much, and suggests that he dribbled too much (and wasn't passing) and that other players weren't doing it enough! We are actually lacking in creativity in midfield so getting rid of Tadic would be a bad move in my opinion

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kenis added 18:43 - Jul 19 No way we should let him go anywhere. Mauricio man management skills may be tested but keeping him and getting the best out of him and Boufall and motivated when not starting is key. We need the competition for places and I'd still have him in my starting 11 wide left of three attacking midfielders and let him interchange with the number 10 and wide right for spells during the game. Gabbi and Charlie will feed off his assists given the chance. I thought after his outburst he played (and finished) games more and played better.

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aceofthebase added 19:02 - Jul 19 Tadic is not a ninety-minute player and should accept he may have to share his spot with Boufal.
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TeamCortese added 00:10 - Jul 20 The real question we should be asking ourselves is whether Steven Davis or JWP have a future at Saints? The former is at the tai-end of his career and the latter is at best a mid-table Championship Player #justsayin
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arthurfane added 14:33 - Jul 21 Disagree - JWP still has enormous potential. A lot of people forget he's still only 22. Think next season will be big for him if manager trusts him and gives him games.
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TeamCortese added 15:54 - Jul 21 arthurfane: I'd love to agree with you. After all this is a local lad (well to a certain extent if turn a blind eye to his Pompey origins ;) ) and I was initially excited when he made his debut 5-years ago. However, when you consider his game time coupled with his goals and assists I can't see what he offers the team at the moment. Please don't mention set-pieces--I've heard that too many times from commentators who don't know anything about our club. Perhaps if we had taller and more imposing players his set-pieces may prove more dangerous; however, I've rarely seen them convert to goals or assists. People keep mentioning he's 22 but players like Dele Alli, Ross Barkley, Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling, Eric Dier, John Stones are all similar ages and English I might add. No one will question their talent and what they bring to their respective clubs. All of those players are adding genuine value to their teams and are still developing. To be quite frank I'd rather see more of Josh Sims than JWP. At least he's direct; lively and commits opposition. He doesn't always pass the ball back like JWP does. I'm not saying all players need to dribble but they need have something to add in the final third. Look at Fabregas, Silva and De Bruyne. None of those players would be considered out-on-out dribblers but they are they still very effective; whether thats by making clever runs; clever passes; creating space etc. JWP doesn't do that. He's made 172 appearances and has only scored 8 goals. Ross Barkley (who people say doesn't score enough goals) has 27 goals in 179 appearances for Everton. Dele Alli 32 goals in 96 appearances for Tottenham; Eric Dier has 8 goals in 135 appearances for Tottenham (please bare in mind he's suppose to be a defensive midfielder). Raheem Sterling may not be a fair comparison because of his position but it shouldn't be ignored that he's younger and despite this scored 44 goals in 223 appearances for both Liverpool and Man City. I'm sorry but what I can't see what JWP has to offer? He's definitely never been seen as a defensive midfielder. He doesn't dictate games with possession and or assists goals. He's no doubt behind his English age mates and I don't see him getting better given how much game time he's had. Furthermore if he has so much potential why haven't the so-called bigger clubs gone in for him like Oxlade-Chamberlain, Bale, Walcott, Shaw and Chambers? No player is bigger than Southampton FC and any player is expendable. We can do better than JWP and people on this forum know it!

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TimSaint added 14:38 - Jul 24 Don't know where this 13-14m buy out clause has been leaked from. I am sure that we would not allow a figure that low to be written into his contract. We signed him for 11m and he has proved that he is capable of producing in this league, so surely we should be looking at somewhere north of 15m for the Serbian Assist King ? Anyway, wasn't he joining Liverpool, West Ham and Arsenal according to some paper reports ? Guess Liv has signed a few others but may be back if Courtinho joins Barca, West Ham got Armautovic and Arse cannot find a buyer for Ozil, so don't need to replace him. Sure Tadic was unhappy last season, but he no longer has 'the manager doesn't like me' or 'I'm always being subbed' as excuses to moan or not perform. He therefore needs to get his arse in gear and prove himself to the new manager and cement himself in the side with the quality performances we know he is capable of. Just don't let him take another penalty please !!

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