A year ago Liverpool and the sly dealings of its manager Brendan Rodgers caught Saints as a club in turmoil. This year they are finding it a totally different story.

Initially a year ago when Brendan Rodgers came a calling with his sarcastic comments about Saints ambitions as a club he found that he could go about his bullying ways against people running Southampton Football Club who were still finding their feet, a year on and its a diifferent proposition.

So when he launched his usual media campaign aimed at unsettling Nathaniel Clyne he found that it didn't phase Saints chairman Ralph Krueger & CEO Gareth Rodgers, who delivered a stark message to the Liverpool manager that they would not consider talking under £15 million, a fair price for an England International full back when you compare against similar players.

Rodgers must be deaf as well as arrogant as the media reported that yes he was going to up his initial £10 million bid to a whopping £11 million, although some said he pushed the boat out to £12 million.

Im not sure what part of £15 million he didn't understand, but he is now up against a club that will not be bullied again.

The problem for Saints though is that with Clyne in the last year of his contract and with Manchester united already having seemingly seen flaws in Clyne that has stopped them bidding, Liverpool seem to be the only game in town for Clyne.

However do Liverpool have the money at present ? they have just splashed out £30 million to Hoffenheim and after Rodgers disastrous transfer dealing last year he has to sell before he can spend too much more.

But perhaps the player himself would care to reflect on what has happened to the careers of his three ex team mates since their move to Anfield and whether he might be better to sign a new deal at St Mary's and continue to build on the progress he has made over the last 12 months.

All in all it is leading to a stand off between Saints,Liverpool and indeed Clyne himself and it is one that needs to be sorted soon or Clyne might find himself in a dilemma and with not a lot of options for him.

Photo: Action Images

BoondockSaint added 13:15 - Jun 24 I don't know what alternate universe Brenda resides in where he thinks he can buy Clyne for 10 million and sell Sterling for 50 million-oh, yeah it's the universe where he's a genius.... Hopefully a couple of his signings are OK. I don't want him to lose his job.....I want him to run that club right into the ground and then keep going until they reach the Earth's core!

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montecristo added 13:27 - Jun 24 Rodgers has single handedly turned Liverpool into a figure of hate, there was envy before and grudging respect, but now Liverpool have joined the likes of Man U and Chelsea as clubs other clubs fans and neutrals love to despise
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Jesus_02 added 14:17 - Jun 24 I cant help but feeling that Liverpool are busy spending the Stirling cash before he has gone. And busily putting themselves in a very week position. Hopefully the deal falls through, Liverpool would have overspent and they end up starting next season with Sterling with only a year to run on his deal.
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BoondockSaint added 16:27 - Jun 24 Nick mentioned this twitter account in a previous post: https://twitter.com/DeludedBrendan Whoever is running it is doing a great job-it is so close to what you would expect the real Brenda to say!
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aceofthebase added 17:28 - Jun 24 I would like our board to put Clyne under pressure to sign a deal. Perhaps reduce the offered salary week by week. Come on guys sort him out.
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wopper added 05:03 - Jun 25 Sell him cheap and Brenda will return to try his luck again.
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VancouverSaint added 06:03 - Jun 25 I don't know about anybody else, but I'm sick and tired about all the rumors out there. The media has stirred things up into a frenzy. Gone are the days that we swapped or signed or lost players without any fuss. Personally, I hate the gossip columns. We may lose Morgan and Nate but for heavens let's not twisted around by the newspapers. It is what it is.
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surreysaint added 09:21 - Jun 25 I would say there are 2 other things that are different this summer. Firstly, Southampton are now a 'fashionable' club, at least with Hodgson and the FA. The press may well be doing all they can to undermine us and preserve the status quo and their mates in the 'Big Clubs' , but whereas once upon a time if you had England / European ambitions you pretty much HAD to leave Southampton, now Clyne knows he can get capped and play in Europe at St Mary's. Second, we're buying players too, not just selling. My view is that last summer was like dominos - one left, there was no sign of a replacement (at the time), so the next one thought "sod this" and he went too. And on and on. Very different this year. Will either have an effect in the long term? I dunno, maybe this is the hopeful nonsense of a blinkered fan but it must at least be a consideration?!

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