With a move for Morgan Schneiderlin looking imminent, Saints will close in on his replacement.

There have been a number of targets in the press to join Saints after Morgan Schniederlin leaves, although the club have made half hearted quotations about the Frenchman staying, the reality is that once the July1st contract anniversary and therefore loyalty bonus payment is passed Schneiderlin will be leaving faster than his fellow countryman Napoleon at Waterloo 200 years ago.

Not that I begrudge Morgan his bonus payment and big money move, far from it if anyone deserves it it is him.

But as I said a lot a year ago its not what happens, its what you do next and now Saints will start to close in on their own targets

First up will be Jordy Clasie from Feyenoord, who is reported as being on the market for around £13 million but is more likely to be bought for slightly less, maybe as low as £10 million.

The Dutch midfielder was heavily linked with joining his former boss Ronald Koeman last summer, but in the end opted to sign a new deal with Feyenoord, now he seems likely to finally arrive at St Mary's

Also rumoured to be on Saints radar is Idressa Gueye from Lille and he is thought to be available for around £7 million.

Yohan Cabaye is the bookies favourite to join and his asking price will be around the £10 million mark.

This means that if Schneiderlin goes for the £24-25 million buy out clause level it is feasible that Saints could sign two out of these three targets and still have change from the whole deal overall.

This is the way forward for Saints if they want to strengthen the squad yard on year and as good as Schneiderlin is I would say that overall replacing him with any two out of these three would do that.

Photo: Action Images

Stephen added 09:43 - Jun 27 Nice business. We are building all the time.
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IanRC added 09:47 - Jun 27 I will be very sorry to see him go, not least because I think he is going to join an inferior manager, although I am sure he will be well compensated. He has been a great servant over the years. With us, hope they appreciate the gem they are signing. Just hope our replacements are truly lined up so we do not find ourselves held to ransom.
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saintmark1976 added 10:26 - Jun 27 Is it not time to bring some perspective into the current Schneiderlin and Clyne situation? They are both good players but not world beaters by any stretch of the imagination.To start with neither can hold down a regular place in their national teams .Schneiderlin plays in a shielding midfield roll for us and accordingly his goals per game ratio is at best thoroughly average to say the least.He has also spent considerable time injured lately. The form of Clyne this past season has been patchy and tailed off toward being poor as the season ended in my opinion. If Man U and Liverpool want to pay a combined £40 million for them all well and good.Let them go with thanks for their contributions and move on.Lets not forget that when we transferred our four "best players" last close season the sky was going to fall in.

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cheltenhamsaint added 10:47 - Jun 27 Like most I will be sorry to see Schneiderlin depart but we've had, and will get, a great return for our £1m investment in an unknown 18 yr old from France. Those of us old enough to remember Shearer's departure will have some perspective. We received , at that time, a huge £1m fee for him but squandered it on Kerry Dixon and Perry Groves, neither of whom wanted to play for the club and their spells here were a disaster for us. In reality we went backwards when we were forced to sell our prize asset. It does feel that we are in a different place now, both in how we intend to spend the income and the quality/enthusiasm of the player (s) we can attract

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GeordieSaint added 11:02 - Jun 27 To be fair to Perry Groves he could throw the ball a really long way.
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SaintBrock added 12:24 - Jun 27 I'll say this for you Nick, your glass is always half-full and let's hope your optimism will be justified. Fact is Schneiderlin is close to being world class and we don't get too many of 'them' players (as Glenn would say) at Saints especially in their prime, so no Nick, his loss will be a huge blow to Saints and it will take more than a sticking plaster to staunch this wound. None of your hoped-for saviours can match Morgan now.

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Jesus_02 added 12:51 - Jun 27 SaintBrock I'm inclined to agree. 24m is massively under value if Stirling is worth 50m in the same situation. I don't think he has a 24-25m release clause either?!? I would also love Morgan to agree a new deal at saints just so we could thumb our noses at all the national media that are saying the deal has been completed with only a fee to be agree with saints! How week does that make us look?

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saintandy added 14:24 - Jun 27 i know it has been said before, but it makes the selling of Jack Cork a complete bafflement still.
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DPeps added 08:21 - Jun 28 In my view Schneiderlin is more important to us than any of the players we sold last season. Losing him will be a blow but it's inevitable. The important thing is to not fixate on one player and to buy decent replacements to ensure that the whole midfield is better. I think we need at least two: Clasie and Cabaye would fit the bill nicely. I say at least two players because I'd like us to be less reliant on Steven Davis, if possible. Football is ruthless, as we know, and I don't think Davis is getting any better. Wanyama needs to keep improving because more will be put on him next season

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