Bad news for Morgan Schneiderlin strong media rumour that Arsene Wenger is not as keen to sign him as he was a few months ago.

Many media outlets are reporting today that Arsene Wenger is cooling his interest in spending aroung £25 million on Morgan Schneiderlin.

The reason given is the emergence of Francis Coquelin, ironically a countryman of both Schneiderlin and Wenger.

The 23 year old has been at the Emirates since 2008 but due to the Gunners having so many options in the centre of midfield he has struggled to play many games, perhaps an indication to young players why they are better off at a club like Saints than being with the big boys in their teens and early twenties when you compare Cquelin's 38 Premier League appearances so far for Arsenal, whilst Schneiderlin who is only 18 months older has played 230 league games for Saints with around a hundred of them in the Premier.

Coquelin spent the early part of this season on loan at Charlton and all indications were that perhaps he did not have a career in store at the Emirates, but since being recalled in December he has been a revellation and such has been his form that Wenger is now strongly rumoured to be considering Coquelin as the lynchpin of his midfield next season and saving himself £25 million.

Whether that is the complete story will perhaps never be known, however Wenger might not have been impressed with Schneiderlin's attitude since last summer, his outburst at intitially being turned down for a move would not have endeared him to Wenger and the constant little quotes attributed to Schneiderlin since then would have been another indication that attitude wise perhaps Schneiderlin is not suited to Arsenal or Wenger's requirements for his players.

Either way it will see Schneiderlin's resolve tested, his latest interviews have all been about playing Champions League football, if Arsenal pull out it is hard to see and of the other clubs who finish i the top four being interested in him, so that will leave only Spur, how ironic would that be if Saints qualified for the Europa League and Spurs didn't, that would see Schneiderlin really having to prove whether his desire to leave Saints is genuinely European football or whether its other reasons.

Photo: Action Images

SanMarco added 10:00 - Apr 21 If it is true it is bad news for us too. This bloke is leaving in the summer and we want as much demand as possible to push the price up.
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IanRC added 11:38 - Apr 21 I was pleased to see his comments after the Stoke game saying he would still fight for a place in the CL for Southampton.
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trampslykeus added 09:45 - Apr 22 It only seems a couple of days ago that Arsenal had agreed a cut-price £15 million deal for Morgan!
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