Dusan Tadic is being quoted as being unhappy at being substituted by Claude Puel and this has lead to the rumour mill going into overdrive.

Dusan Tadic reportably expressed his discontent at Claude Puel's policy of taking him off in the final quarter of matches and this has lead to rumours flying around as the media attempt to link him with every club in Europe.

First up is Arsenal who are said to be ready to replace Mesut Ozil with Tadic, worrying for Saints fans though is that although Tadic is contracted to Saints till 2020, the media are mentioning a £13 million release clause in his contract.

That sounds a little low but the question would be, if that release clause exists how is news of it getting out into the media, the answer is that it would not be in Saints interests to make it know so that would come either from the player or his agent.

Also linked are Juventus, Napoli and Athletico Madrid although the latter seems to be a bit speculative.

From a Saints perspective Tadic's season has been a little stop start and it is understandable why Puel would want to use his entire squad during games, vying for a place with Tadic is Boufal a player who would be nearest to him in style and then the likes of Long, Rodriguez and Sims all of whom have contributed this season albeit in different styles of play.

This is the hardship Saints face when trying to keep quality players, at the big clubs players can accept that they will be substituted and rotated as it is a squad game, outside of the big six less so.

Photo: Action Images

Sanguin added 10:38 - Mar 27 You could see on his face at Tottenham how frustrated he was when he saw that he was being taken off. He’s obviously very ambitious and hard working, there was that story in February 2015 about Koeman asking him to stop working so hard and turning up to training on his days off. It seems there’s a consensus between Koeman and Puel that to get the best out of Tadic, you can’t work him too hard; I don’t think Tadic is part of that consensus. http://www.basingstokegazette.co.uk/sport/football/11784408.Koeman_s_stunning_me He signed a new contract in August 2016, I can’t imagine that such a low release clause would have been allowed into it, especially since we signed him for £11m and his value can only have gone up. Maybe the rumours about him not getting on with Koeman meant he demanded the release clause to leave the door open to a move if things didn’t improve under the new manager? Either way, I would hate to lose Tadic.

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SanMarco added 10:46 - Mar 27 The last international break before the window always seems to be the starting gun - Romeu off to Barca rumours too. It will be a long time until Sept 1st and there will be hundreds of rumours like this one. The message that Tadic is sending may simply be 'don't take me off' rather than 'I want to leave' but that would be too dull for the media.
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Jesus_02 added 11:15 - Mar 27 The report of the release clause I saw was 13m Euro... which is obviously smaller still. So I dismissed that. I just want 1 season where we don't sell 2-3-4-5 Key players players TBH. I imagine from the clubs perspective we already have Boufal as a replacement but I would like us to have 2 decent players in these positions even if its just for 1 season.
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LordDZLucan added 11:29 - Mar 27 Tadic gets taken off because he doesn't last 90 minutes. Never has done, never will. A £13m release clause sound too low. But Tadic mouthing off in the media suggests he's angling after a move so there could be some truth in it.
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TimSaint added 13:01 - Mar 27 As much as he can be great, he can be equally as frustrating. When he hit the headlines with his goal and FOUR assists in the 8-0 thrashing of Sunderland, he proclaimed to be the assist king in every country he had played and wanted to emulate that with Saints. That was 2 1/2 years ago, but to date with Saints, has really only put in a handful of great performances since then. He seems to do well with Serbia, in terms of goals and assists but never seems to follow that up with Saints. If he is not performing, or there is a tactical switch required, then yes he will be subbed. We have competition for places in his position. I doubt the buy out clause is correct - it would not be set at the same price we paid for him - that is not the Saints way. Perhaps £20m is more likely. Anyway - why would he move to a bigger club, where he would get subbed more frequently and experience even greater bench time ?

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BoondockSaint added 14:27 - Mar 27 Surprised he hasn't shown up on other teams radar sooner. Every time a big team swoops in for a player, I think he will be next. I am of the opinion that he is the main part of our engine room: how many times has he set others up for goals since he came here? (it would be a lot more if Long and Rodriguez were a bit more clinical). We don't know if he can last a game if Puel never leaves him in. This "rotation" policy has really gone too far if Puel switches players just for the sake of it, we don't have enough talent. TimSaint: gotta differ...I don't see any competition for his position. Boufal? He is so intent on keeping the ball from other players that he won't even pass to his own teammates! Long, Rodriguez, Sims?? The Arsenal rumour is the big worry since he fits the type of player they always sign: small and nifty--which I think is their main problem!

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SaintBrock added 14:33 - Mar 27 The coaches will be watching every aspect of a player's performance during a match and will realise quite quickly when a player's performance starts to drop off and it probably is not physical tiredness that is the main arbiter. Concentration is the key, as energy is used up the blood supply starts to be depleted and this will affect brain performance so even if a player still thinks he has enough physical energy to keep going for while longer even if at a lower pace than at the start, nevertheless it has become impossible for him to give 100% concentration and that leads to sloppier ball control, more misjudgements and other symptoms that have mor bearing on team performance than just the physical aspects. The coaches must judge which players experience these tiring effects first and at what time these they set in. Dusan Tadic seemingly has always had a stamina problem and so the coaches will be mindful of how long they should use him as opposed to could. Of course every player wants to play every minute of every game but are they the best people to decide for what is essentially a team game in which team performance is the main focus.

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TimSaint added 14:57 - Mar 27 Boondock - we have Long, Redmond, JRod, Sims and perhaps even McQueen, who can all play in his position. They do offer competition for his place, plus a different option, depending on who we are facing. The trouble is, none of these players seems to be pushing any of the others for a starting bertg and some are trying perhaps too hard to impress !! As for the links to Arsenal, i think this is down to the fact that Ozil and Sanchez are rumoured to be leaving this summer and the press are simply speculating over possible replacements. Do Saints actually have buy out clauses in their player contracts ? We don't really hear of them - especially considering the sales we have experienced of late. Perhaps we should adopt this approach in the future. On this basis, I doubt there is a clause for Tadic and even if there is, no way would it be so low. Idle paper talk. (I hope!!)

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dixiefrog added 18:23 - Mar 27 For me Dusan has been a good, if not a great player for Saints. I believe much of what has been written is simply media speculation, although his performances this year have been patchy and maybe he's angling for a move. At 28 he's in his prime but his performance and stamina will undoubtedly begin wain, perhaps he's looking at his personal position and think he's not going to get many more offers to play for a 'big' club. So, to stay and become the perennial super sub or leave for one last hurrah and pay day (perhaps in China), we'll have to wait and see.

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