Morgan Schneiderlin has famously said that he wants to play in the Champions League, so why are Tottenham Hotspur bothering to put in a bid ?
This site always suspected that Mauricio Pochettino was a bit of a fantasist, but his reported interest in Morgan Schneiderlin is very interesting for several reasons.
Firstly there is the fact that Schneiderlin has stated that he wants to go to a club in the Champions League and last time I looked they don't seem to be in it, indeed they have rarely managed to actually qualify for it even before the emergence as Manchester City as a top four side, so they are as far away from breaking into it as they have ever been.
Secondly there is the small matter of Saints wanting around £25 million for the Frenchman and with Daniel Levy rating that there is only around £15 million for transfers this summer, Pochettino is way short of that figure so he other as to beat Saints down or sell Harry Kane pretty quickly.
Although perhaps Pochettino's only straw to clutch at is that he could offer Andros Townsend as part of the deal.
But with Arsenal seemingly backing out of signing Schneiderlin, as they have done every single summer since he arrived at St Mary's as they have been linked every year, Schneiderlin's options of staying in England are getting limited if he wants to also play in the Champions League, in fact they might stand at just one, Manchester United.
So why would Schneiderlin be so keen to stay in the Premier rather than go to a club on the continent in the Champions League ? the answer is simple money !
So should Spurs turn out to be the only option on the table for Schneiderlin then it will be a test of his integrity, the issue for him is that Saints want a reasonable fee and with two years left on his contract they are under no pressure to sell.
If that is the case and it is the fee that is putting off potential suitors then perhaps Schneiderlin has to consider staying put at St Mary's for another year, it won't be that hard to do with a potential Europa League campaign and his fee will drop next summer with only a year on his current deal remaining, he will still be young enough to have a good six years at the top of is game with a top notch club
So we could soon see Morgan Schneiderlin's true motivation, is it the Champions League or s it a club that will pay him more than Saints, the next few weeks will perhaps tell us the answer to that.