In the past week or so it became clear that Manchester United were stalling for time over Morgan Schneiderlin, now they face losing him and other targets.
What has become clear in the past week or so is that Morgan Schneiderlin is not the first choice for Manchester United or several other clubs for that matter, the Red Devils initially seemed very keen to land Schneiderlin ahead of Arsenal, but after appearing to convince the player that he should head to Old Trafford rather than the Emirates their behaviour since then has suggested that they are trying to keep Schneiderlin warm whilst chasing their priority targets.
That has been evidenced by the way they have chased Sergio Ramos whilst putting Schneiderlin on the back burner.
Yes they have bid for Schneiderlin but given the figure being quoted to bid far less and then fail to sit down at the table to negotiate suggests that the Saints player is a fall back option to them rather than a priority choice, you would have thought they could have easily have bought both, so the question is whether they have enough money to do that and land other targets, or whether Schneiderlin is a fall back option.
Certainly I think Schniderlin himself is starting to realise that as the Sunday papers are full of sources close to the player quoting that he prefers Arsenal anyway.
This could be a problem for him in that Arsenal have shown no inclination to sign him so far, they have not are any firm offers, they have been linked with other midfielders and there is also the suggestion that they may feel they have enough already at the club for their needs, certainly enough that they do not need to pay £25 million for another one.
So Morgan Schneiderlin finds himself in a bit of limbo, he doesn't appear to be the main target for anyone and a over to a Premier League team in the Champions League is looking more unlikely with the only two of the four remotely interested not acting.