According to the media Sadio Mane has told Saints he will not sign a new contract and will try to force a move in the January transfer window.

Manchester United, Chelsea & Bayern Munich are all being linked with a move for Sadio Mane and that is being fuelled in the press with stories that the Senegalese striker has told Saints that he will not sign a new deal.

That however will change nothing from a Saints perspective, Mane's deal does not run out till 2018 meaning that the club is under no pressure to sell for at least another 12-18 months.

That will probably not please Mane who seems set to try and force Saints to sell him in January.

There is of course the question of how much Saints will be offered, the club's strategy is to nurture players and then sell when they get offered far more than Mane's worth.

So what is his worth ? after all it was only just over a year ago that Mane was the target of abuse from a large section of the crowd who were decidedly underwhelmed by his performances in the first half of last season, in the second half he went on a couple of scoring bursts and they perhaps made his goal tally look better than it actually was.

This season he has been at times brilliant, but too often he has been average and in 20 games in the Premier League has only scored 3 times, one of those at Liverpool was basically making sure Ramirez's header went into the goal where it was already bound from 6 inches out.

Goals are of course only part of his game and as he showed against Arsenal he can provide as well as score.

So at this moment in time Mane's worth seems to be artificially high, Saints paid around £10 million, now he is worth more than that, but probably given his inconsistency it would really be little more than around £17 million, so if the £30 -35 million being bandied around in the press turns up on the table, then Saints would seriously have to consider it.

It the modern game, it is a fact of life that the so called big clubs and Spurs will try to buy any player that has a little purple patch and for clubs like Saints its about managing the departure of players, we have to adopt a long term strategy and that means sometimes selling when a silly offer is on the table.

That will lead to some supporters screaming and shouting, but this is reality, not the fantasy of being able to eep all your players and win the Champions League, Saints have to look at every individual player and know there worth and no when they have an offer that won't be matched.

Mane seems to be makinge it quite clear it is only a question of when and not if he goes, Saints need to keep in control of the situation and that could mean selling him now.

Photo: Action Images

Steve_N added 14:42 - Jan 5 If the reports are true, assuming a decent offer is tabled, we should take it and get rid. It would seem from what is in the public domain that he has become a disruptive influence, although, of course, that may not necessarily be true. RK will no doubt be aware of all of this and will need to gauge his value to the club against any bad influence on the training ground and in the dressing room. I will be sorry to see him go and it would just be more of the trend we have seen in the last couple of years - players wanting to move on to "bigger and better" clubs. However, no player is bigger than the club.

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NewYorkSaint added 14:43 - Jan 5 Any offer over £30m and I would be happy to sell him now providing we replaced him with a more prolific goal scorer. Our real problem is lack of contribution of goals from our midfield. JWP, Davis, Wanyama, Clasie and Romeu all need to be more of a goal threat if we want to get into top 10.
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Dan_P326 added 14:53 - Jan 5 The only issue I'd have with selling him is that it reinforces the idea that the players can just throw a tantrum at any point in order to orchestrate a move away from the club. That's an attitude that we need to begin trying to stifle if we're ever to improve.
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SonicBoom added 15:10 - Jan 5 I have always liked Mane but it was clear from the start that he is out for himself. When we came calling from the premier league he had no qualms about going on strike. Why would we think he would be any different here when someone bigger comes knocking. I think academies should run courses for the kids to show the right and wrong way to get a transfer! It's not hard but some of them seem to be totally clueless.

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stmichael added 15:19 - Jan 5 Let him go. Compare our spirit and togetherness to Stoke City. This club seems incapable of any stability on or off the pitch. All so predictable.
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IWOZTHERE added 15:31 - Jan 5 Given our position it would be dangerous to let him go before the summer. I could handle Wanyama going because we've got cover for him.Likewise if we can a good replacement then sell Mane now (for the right price). As usual I just worry how much (or little) of the 25-30m would be spent?
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LordDZLucan added 15:50 - Jan 5 I accept everything that has been said in this article and the key is in the last sentence 'Saints need to keep in control of the situation'. Alas, we have already lost control of the situation. Mane's performances this season have been mediocre to say the least and we supposedly punished him last weekend by demoting him to the bench! He wasn't punished, the team was. What we do need to do is put in place a rule around when we will sell a player and when we won't and, more importantly, the players must know that we will stick to that rule come what may. For example, the rule could be that we will sell between the end of the season and the end of July but at no other time whatever the bid.

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LordDZLucan added 16:00 - Jan 5 One further point regarding us losing control of the situation. 'Did Wanyama get himself sent off against Norwich at the weekend to avoid having to play against Palace in the Cup and therefore getting cup-tied? I wonder?'
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RogerToye added 16:19 - Jan 5 hehe don't you just love the transfer window
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dirk_doone added 16:20 - Jan 5 Errr, his contract is until September 2018. The club's PR seems to be going into overdrive again paving the way for another player sale. Mane probably won't mind a move, but I think his sale was planned for this summer anyway. The fans will all be saying good riddance to the greedy player, while the owner pockets another 30 million and everybody feels sorry for her. Easy money if you can get it.

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SanMarco added 16:21 - Jan 5 Mane cannot 'force' a move this month and I agree that a silly offer of over 30m would be very tempting. On balance though we should resist the temptation though beacause it would set a very nasty precedent for future January windows. Interesting rule Lord Lucan but would the club also be bound by it? e.g. club not player decides to sell at end of August...
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LordDZLucan added 16:31 - Jan 5 Hi SanMarco. Rule is probably too strong a word but it would be club policy which the club would need to adhere to over successive transfer windows for the players to know that there is no point in trying to force a move in either January or August.
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BoondockSaint added 16:43 - Jan 5 I don't like the notion that it is our "strategy" to always sell our best players and not replace them with ones that are at least as good. That just makes us the academy of bigger clubs, not a proper team. I may not like bigger clubs swooping in and nicking our best players, but it is the reality of a league with no salary cap. However, since this is the case, why do we never swoop in and nick players from teams below us? Why do we never hear of a player being unsettled by Saints? Mane was always going and I wish him well. I know the last week or two has tarnished his rep, but for few months he was the only Saints player teams were afraid of-great pace, great shot, perfectly weighted passes and always hunting for the ball. He probably just got tired of the rest of the team not bothering and reckoned "Why should I bother if they don't?"

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dirk_doone added 16:47 - Jan 5 Seriously, what is so 'tempting' about one of our best players being sold and Kat getting another 30 million in her bank account??? It's not as if we're likely to see any of it.
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aceofthebase added 17:46 - Jan 5 Let him go. However I would accept somewhere between 15-20 million. Certainly not worth more.
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SaintBrock added 19:25 - Jan 5 Emotions are running high right now when what we really need is cool heads. We are slipping into the relegation battle in case some haven't noticed and the last thing we need to do is sell Clogger Wanyama or Sleepy Head Mane at any price in January. The irony is that we are heading for disaster even with those two in our team but at least we may have a better chance of survival with them rather than without them. Although the club rhetoric is always that we sell players only to buy better ones, sadly this is only make believe and we have not successfully replaced Lallana, Clyne or Schneiderlin even now so fat chance we'll find better players than our newly troublesome duo.

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saintsnutcase added 19:37 - Jan 5 Why don't we replace the top players we sell with players that are just as good? Because of the wages involved. If we sell a Schneiderlin for 25m, any replacement costing 25m would demand the same wages that Schneiderlin is getting at Man Utd. But we can't afford those wages - otherwise we would have kept Schneiderlin in the first place. Instead, we have to sign someone for say 15m and use the other 10m to top up the new guy's wages to an acceptable level over a 5 year contract. Therefore we will always need to replace our best players with cheaper players. The only ways we can compete are 1. To create our own players, which we have temporarily stopped doing. 2. To trade better than the average club. The idea that Kat is filling her boots is ridiculous. Recent sales have gone towards paying off the Osvaldo/Ramirez disasters and the training ground overspend, and into the wage bill. Nothing has gone out of the club.

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legod7 added 19:58 - Jan 5 dirk doone How is Katarina getting 30 million in her back account. She has bankrolled this club since August 2010. I believe at the moment that figure is £26m
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BoondockSaint added 20:19 - Jan 5 Nutcase: Osvaldo cost 15 million, Gaston 12. = 27 million That account was settled by selling Shaw for 30 million. So that means we have about 100 million left from recent sales. Even if we spent 50 million on replacements (I am over-estimating) that still leaves 50 to spend on wages. Players leave because they think we are going nowhere because we sell and sell. I'm not accusing Kat of skimming the money. But if we need to pay higher wages to keep players, we need more revenue. So where are the plans to expand the stadium? I don't want to hear about not expanding until we sell out all the time-larger stadium means more seats with better views which will sell better than the leftovers now available. Lower ticket prices- more tickets sold and you make money even more money on parking and concessions. Expand brand world wide and don't start in a backwater like Baltimore!

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DPeps added 20:48 - Jan 5 It's not clear that Mane is pushing for a move. The main evidence seems to be that he was late for a meeting and he looked p*ssed off at being dropped. I make it my business to be late for meetings, by the way, that doesn't mean I want to quit my job. As far as I'm aware, the only thing he's said is that he's happy where he is, which he said a few months ago amid Man U speculation. And as for the argument that we should cash in because he's been poor this season... by that reckoning most of team should be on the transfer list! Mane is a special player and even when he's not 100% he is still a terrifying prospect to opposition defences. Fine to reassess the situation in the summer but don't sell now.

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DPeps added 20:53 - Jan 5 And... I'm not a business brain but from what I know football clubs are not the way to make easy money. The idea that KL is making a killing through the club is absurd. At the same time, I'm not sure the business model for the club has worked well this season
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Consigliere added 21:52 - Jan 5 No, No and thrice No! This can be killed at a stroke. The Board must make it crystal clear that there will be no sales of Mane or Wanyama at any price (well at any price other than something utterly stupid - £300 million anyone?) Time to put some stick about
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perazi added 22:07 - Jan 5 Just a couple of points. Mane has not been mediocre this season as some are claiming on here. He has been the stand out Saints player with most creative, attacking play coming through his work. There's an article in the DT which claims the meeting Mane was late for was rescheduled and the location also changed. It's just possible he wasn't thumbing his nose at Koeman or breaking his neck to get away in January. It might be time to pull back from the inflammatory stuff with people already making up their mind about the player and his intentions.

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NigD added 22:15 - Jan 5 I cannot believe the people that are starting to take shots at the owner of this club? What they have given us is more than we could ever have dreamed about. We are going through another sticky period on the pitch. Have some faith people. What other club has ever had the misfortune to have so, so many of their players grabbed by the so called top four. It is unprecedented. These players have wanted to move, none of them have begged to stay? The club gets the best price and we move on. Getting the right players as replacements takes some doing and we are still very much sorting that side out! I for one cannot understand the doom and gloom. We are still very much a great club!

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IWOZTHERE added 23:01 - Jan 5 Just got back from the pub and this thread has gone 'haywire'. I now disagree with everyone including myself! The only post I'm tempted to spout off about is saintsnutcase's point that we can't spend more on players because we can't afford top player's wages. It's a fair comment, but he then states 'that's the reason we only buy players for 15m' WHEN? Some time ago the previous board paid that amount for Osvaldo, OK big mistake but that's history. The current board agreed the sale of Clyne for 12.5m (worth 15-20m) and Schneiderlin for 27m , netting nearly 40m (less fees) and spent only 11.5m on their replacements. WTF do you expect? His suggestion about wages and FFP are considerations, but only that. This board are taking the piss!

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