With Danny Ings yet to agree a new deal with Saints, there has been a lot of media speculation about whether the club will cash in on him in the summer, but there is a long way to go yet and nothing is certain.

If the more reliable pundits are to be believed in the Danny Ings contract saga, club and player are not a long way off agreeing terms, the sticking issue is a release clause.

Obviously like any player Ings wants to play at the highest level and that means challenging for honours both in England and in Europe and the reality is that he is far more likely to do that at Spurs, Manchester City or even as has been suggested today a move back to Liverpool.

Danny Ings has two things against him for one of the truly big clubs to want him, one is his age and two is his injury record, which has come back a little this season.

They would be willing to take a punt at a low transfer fee, but not risk too much money, especially in this current financial crisis in football.

This is where the release clause comes in, Danny is happy at St Mary's, committed to the club and happy to sign a new deal if he can have this release clause in the contract, so that should a big club come in for him, Saints can't force him to stay with the security of the contract meaning they can hold out for stupid money.

It has been suggested that his agent wants a £10 million release clause set in the contract, this is not good for Saints it is far less than they could get now, although probably his value should he get to January next year's transfer window.

This means that if they get Danny to sign a new deal with that amount, they are exposed to the likes of Spurs who have a history for this sot of thing, breezing in and activating a release clause, something they would have almost certainly tried to do this summer.

So it is in Saints interest to stick with the existing deal, to be blunt if a big club comes calling it will make no difference to our ability to keep him at the club, but it will mean we can hold out for the going rate.

So this is why we are at an impasse, it is in no ones interest to sign a new contract at present, Ings will not want to tie himself into a new deal that doesn't include the release clause and Saints are not daft enough to put it in.

So we will have to wait until the summer and see what happens, from a Saints perspective this is totally a bad thing, Ings will be 29 in the summer and will be looking at what will be his last big contract, given that age will he be seen by the big clubs as a top target, perhaps with a £10 million release clause, but not at the going rate of £25 million, which is what we will demand, if he was 3 years younger we would be looking at perhaps double that.

The summer will sort out the wheat from the chafe, see if their is any real interest from a big club or whether it is all just his agent stirring up the media.

Under his current deal the club hold the best hand, they can hold out for top dollar, yes perhaps he might walk for nothing in 2022, but he will be 30 in July of that year, age will mean his value is dropping and from a financial perspective Danny Ings is perhaps worth £10 million a year, we would be better letting him run his contract down and losing that amount should no one offer us at least twice that this summer.

Indeed if Danny was to run down his contract that might be best for both player and the club, for Saints his goals will fire us up the league and cover the £10 million lost and will not then shackle us to a high earning player who at 30 might start to lose that pace and sharpness and for Ings himself it would enable him to leave Saints with hopefully a job well done for the £20 million original outlay and as a free agent find a top club who will see him as a good option.

Danny Ings should not be derided by Saints supporters for not having signed a new deal, he is a professional footballer and he has to look after both his family and his career, with regard to the latter, he spent the peak years of his career injured at Liverpool and had to miss out on the chance of glory, who can blame him for wanting one last shot at it.

So of course we would all prefer that he sign a new deal now, but that isn't going to happen, at least not until the summer unless his agent caves in to the release clause or it is upped to a level acceptable to the club, otherwise it is now a waiting game, in the summer if the right deal does not materialise then the player himself may be ready to accept that his best option is to see out the remaining years of his career at St Mary's.

Photo: Action Images

mattlegod added 12:27 - Mar 8 Lets face it, as this season goes on with his run of injuries and track record of injuries, the less likelihood other clubs are going to want him and his value will drop. That said the minimum release clause should be the amount we paid for him. Of equal if not more concern is Bertrands contract position.
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ElijahK added 12:34 - Mar 8 I mean at the end of the day it’s up to Ings, and as we’ve seen soo many times before with soo many other players it’s only going to end one of two ways... See if Ings stays with us, he’ll get played every week and won’t need to worry about a drop off in form, will be a favourite amongst the fans and will maybe go down as a club legend and have a decent end to his career including some more England caps! The only negatives of this is simply that he won’t be getting paid as much (although he’ll still get a lot) and won’t win much, but in the other hand will have a great end to his career and be a legend at the club he’s from and could turn out like Vardy and keep going for many more years. The other way it’s going to go is that he leaves us to join the likes of Spurs and yeah may win a trophy or two and get a bit more money, but won’t play that often as in the end as soon as he gets injured/out of form/a new striker is signed, will be dropped to the bench and will get to play a odd cup game or two and get the last 10 minutes for league games here and there. So the positives of that is that he’ll get some more money and may win a thing or two, but the negatives are that he won’t be getting any more caps for England, will be released as soon as his contract expires, won’t go down as a club legend or anything, and will spend a majority of the remainder of his career on the bench behind the likes of Kane. I mean when you really think about it, there’s only one choice that players in the past and what’s happened to them has shown us that you should always pick. So whether he picks the one that’s going to help us and his career or not is certainly uncertain, but hopefully he’ll realise that if he wants to end his career on a high then there’s only one option to pick...

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EvertonSaint added 12:57 - Mar 8 I can understand that if he had a chance to play in the Champions League etc, but the old chestnut of money is always around. How much can Saints afford? It does get under my skin when you see they want to do the best for their family with a lucrative deal, How many millions do these players need in future life? It used to be a testimonial at the end of their career to support them. You rarely see this in the ‘modern’ game unless it is exceptional. Why? It’s because they earn mega bucks each week. How many millionaires are there at Southampton? We have very few loyalists at SFC with Le Tissier the greatest example. Ines injury problems will hinder the move he wants, so take the deal, sign a contract and show loyalty to the fans who worship him.

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halftimeorange added 13:36 - Mar 8 At Saints Danny Ings can shine, always in the spotlight but, elsewhere at a bigger club he's more likely to bask in the reflected glory of first choice players. I can see him as a stopgap if, say Kane should move on however, his continual injuries make Danny a risk as a main highly-paid striker. The question we can't answer is whether he's prepared to be a bench-warmer for a couple of seasons simply for more money than Saints are able or willing to pay him. We'll find out in the near future.

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Peterx added 13:40 - Mar 8 Good article, lets keep supporting him but let the contract run down. Otherwise have a 20M release clause. This latest injury has not done his bargaining power any favours though, and my immediate thought when he got injured again is that whatever offer we have as Saints on the table we should probably take off.
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highfield49 added 13:51 - Mar 8 I'd rather a compromise was reached with maybe a £15m release clause. Ongoing contract negotiation is unsettling for supporters, and players, and I'm sure Danny's goal scoring touch would return once pen has been put to paper. However, we've also got Tella, N'Lundulu and maybe Obafemi looking as though they could make the grade before too long. So, to be brutally honest signing Danny to a long term contract isn't necessarily good business if he's going to get higher wages for recovery time spent in the treatment room.

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Farlow added 15:13 - Mar 8 I think Saints deserve a lot of credit for their handling of Danny Ings.When he arrived he was still obviously still not fully recovered from injury.The first year they were really patient with him and virtually nursed him to full fitness.If he does move to a bigger club i dont think theyd be as patient given his ongoing injury problems i think his best bet would be to stay and with Saints help make his career as long as possible.

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underweststand added 15:35 - Mar 8 I agree with some of the comments above, BUT a short term resolution to the problem is not easy. Stay with the existing contract, and Danny walks away for free next summer. If we cant agree a better release clause, then 10 million is chicken feed for the big clubs especially if he is in good scoring form. 30 is a dangerous age, and only the likes of Aguero and Vardy improve after that, and if a big injury comes there is no way back. His agent is obviously keen on a big move (if the 10 mill. fig.is accurate) but does Danny REALLY want to stay /or is it all smoke and mirrors, and he really wants a big move. Although Spurs get CL fairly regularly, they havent won anything for over 12 years, and Danny would only be (the younger) Harry Kanes sub. for the duration of his contract. Im sure Liverpool would love him back, and Man City will need to replace Aguero soon. More importantly in a year or two.. SAINTS will need another Danny. For my part , keeping Ings is a short term problem whereas finding another Pelle or Lambert is a more pressing consideration. Its good to see the likes of Obafemi and NLundulu getting game time, but I am not sure that Ralph is totally convinced about either of them long term.

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teamster1 added 16:38 - Mar 8 I have no problem with whatever Danny’s decision is come the end of the season but I do have a problem with the here and now. To me he looks like he is sulking. He used to look buzzy and fired up but even before the bad run of results you could see that his whole demeanour has changed and he looks like he couldn’t care less. On Saturday it looked like he wasn’t that bothered that he had picked up an injury and I didn’t see one other team mate go up to him to see how he was.

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davidargyll added 17:49 - Mar 8 I think everybody is quietly forgetting that an awful lot of clubs are running on empty right now - and will be for the next twelve months at least - and simply haven’t got the ackers to fork for, yes a good player, but who at best is injury-prone. A year ago he wasn’t and might have been worth the risk; but now he is, and I don’t think he is. So, with budgets tight, there is no way Spurs et al are going to come calling at anything like the price he is worth to us, and I would think his latest injury has dropped any bids by another million or two. In essence I reckon the most likely scenario now is that he sees out his contract with SFC and then has a look around. A very good analogy would be our very (ex)own Adam Lallana who went to Liverpool on a high, was permanently in the sick bay, played less than half each season’s games, and ends up going on a free to BHA with the promise of a management job down the line. I wouldn’t bet the house on it but that seems like a possible template for Danny, even if he hasn’t any management aspirations...

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AmericanSaint added 19:16 - Mar 8 Teamster1 - I noticed that too, that not a single teammate came over to see how he was doing or when he walked off. I think that is telling, as earlier in the year when he had the knee injury, JWP and a few others came over to see how he was. I agree with a lot of the points made here and ElijahK and Halftimeorange made very interesting points about if Ingsy stays. I unfortunately think today's footballers no longer care about talisman status (i.e. Le God) and care only about $$$. This thing about winning trophies is all bs. Anyone who has played this game and really loves it, always wants to play and start. Going to another big 6 club to ride the bench would never cross your mind unless it is for $$$. Also, anyone who thinks MC is looking at Danny to replace Aguero is drunk or high. MC are looking a players like Halaand, not Ingy. A for Tots, he would only start if Kane was sold or inured. The last factor we must consider is ego. I point to Schniderling, Wanyama, LLalana, and even Lambert (too a small amount). Their egos made them believe that they deserved to be at a top-6 club and pushed for it. Look where they are now. Lambert later admitted it was a mistake to go to Liverpool. I saw a recent interview with Matt LeTissier, who stated that he never regretted playing only at our club and never thought of leaving. He appreciated the fans, the respect and the adoration. Look at him now, years later, people still buying him pints and every announcer I have seen remarks on his tenure at the club and how unique it was as no footballer today has the loyalty anymore. So it now lies in Ingy's hands, stay and have the chance to be a talisman, or leave for maybe $400K/year more to be a sub/part time player and be forgotten in the annuals of football history. I agree if he doesn't want to sign, fine, tell him he will have to see his contract out and he can leave for free. For 10M, we will not be able to buy a striker anyways. Finally, I am curious to see what happens if we get new ownership over the summer. Cheers.

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SanMarco added 21:16 - Mar 8 I think Nick sets out the best course of action clearly in the article. If he wants to go on a free at the end of next season then good luck to him. Unless he puts in a good injury-free run before then I doubt there will be that much interest from the very big teams. If it is really true that he wants a release clause at helf the amount we paid for him then I reckon that is taking the p1ss. I am not (yet anyway) convinced by all the conspiracy theories about him being unhappy etc. The knee injury at Villa was a different kettle of fish. Team-mates saw him walking off on Saturday and knew it wasn't terribly serious. I think the return of fitness problems plus our slide down the snake have probably got him looking miserable. They've got me looking miserable!!

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redwight added 09:59 - Mar 9 At the end of last season he was a missed penalty away from being joint top scorer in the Prem. and dreams of Champions League football were entirely realistic. The outlook is very different now, with injuries leading to a drop off in form - plus he has another year on the clock. Does a possible starting place in a CL dead rubber match really constitute playing at the pinnacle of the game? Better by far to stay where he is and be the leading light in a team which will, with a few signings made and some dead wood cleared out, be a force again.

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Braveheart added 10:16 - Mar 9 Danny Ings is not all that. If he was his goal tally would have been 20+ by now. He is off the pitch more times than he is on it and will not be a miss now or in the future. Lets get what we can for him and ship him out. We have had and do have better.
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GeordieSaint added 11:13 - Mar 9 Danny would be mad to let his contract run down with his knees. However, 10 million seems a pretty low release clause. You don't get much for that these days.
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LordDZLucan added 18:49 - Mar 9 The moral of this saga is that contracts must be sorted out at least 2 years before they end. If agreement can't be reached with the player within that timeframe then the player must be sold immediately.
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