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Manchester United And Arsenal After Lemina

Manchester United appear to have put in a cheeky bid for Mario Lemina, with Arsenal hovering,possibly not the news you want to hear if you are a supporter of the Red Devils or Gunners.

Mario Lemina is undoubtedly a quality player on his day, the problem has been for under half of the period he has been here he has either been injured or not on form.

Initially Lemina looked a real bargain when he joined the club from Juventus for £18 million in August 2017, but since then he has struggled to find consistency either in being free from injury or in form itself.

When he plays well he looks a player who could sparkle in the Manchester United midfield, but too often he looks nowhere near that class.

In his time at St Mary's he could have played around 76 times in the Premier League, he has managed only 38 starts plus another 8 as sub scoring only twice.

Now it seems that he is a luxury that Saints would be willing to let depart at the right price.

It will be disappointing should he go in that he really does have the potential to succeed at the highest level and the fact that he hasn't reached those heights enough times in the last two years asks some questions that may worry Manchester United fans who could see Paul Pogba replaced by Lemina.

The player himself seems happy to go, although he equally does not seem in a hurry nor does he seem worried should he have to stay, perhaps an it is this attitude that has prevented him from fulfilling his potential something he really perhaps should have done as he approaches 26 in September.

He loos to be heading for the exit and has been left out of the Saints squad to travel to Austria for a training camp, Saints are being reported as wanting to recoup at least the £18 million they paid back in 2017.

Certainly the centre of midfield is an area Saints have plenty of bodies in and could afford to let a player go in that department, Lemina has barely played under Hasenhuttl and from that perspective played little part in the way the Austrian revived the team after his arrival.

You have the feeling that with the rumours of off the field activities effecting his performance on the pitch that Saints are comfortable with Lemina going, perhaps he will go on to better things elsewhere, but for the moment Saints are quite happy to cut their losses on a player who has not really done it often enough for the fee paid.


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