Luke Shaw said in a recent interview that he would love to play for Mauricio Pochettino again and loved working with him at Saints, but it seems the feeling is not mutual.
Four years ago it seemed Luke Shaw had the World at his feet, a regular in the Saints team and an England debut that saw him selected for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and a £30 million move to Manchester United mean't that at still only 18 a glittering career appeared to be ahead of him.
I said at the time I thought it was the wrong move for him, not only was he too young to handle a big move like this, especially to a club in transition, but his style was not suited to what United required from their full backs.
United want wing backs, players that can get forward and support an attack and put in telling crosses, that was not Shaw's game at St Mary's, he was a good left back in the traditional style, he had a short burst of speed that got him out of trouble, but he didn't seem to have the engine to get up and down the line, he had one assist in 60 Premier League appearances for Saints, that in itself was a slice of luck when a ballooned cross saw the Arsenal kkeper fail to come out and Jose Fonte head home an unlikely goal.
So I always thought that the United move would end in tears and that has been the case, injury has not helped but it seems nor has his attitude with Jose Mourinho coming out publicly and slating it.
In almost 3 1/2 seasons at Old Trafford Shaw has managed only 32 Premier League games and none of those have come this season, even last season Mourinho was loathe to use him and when he did Shaw rarely completed 90 minutes in the League at least.
Indeed this season his only appearances have been in the League Cup where he played 45 minutes as a half time sub at home to Burton and then in the following round the final 3 minutes against Swansea to run down the clock emphasising just how low down the pecking order he is under mourinho at Old Trafford.
This has prompted the manager's surprise outburst at Shaw in the media this season, perhaps frustrated by his attitude and failure to apply his undoubted talent, the player responded by telling the press what a great manager Mauricio Pochettino was and the nfluence he had been on his career, perhaps in a "come & get me" type of way, but if he thought that might encourage the Spurs manager to show an interest he would be wrong.
Pochettino has written of his time at Saints in his new book "Brave New World" and has criticised Shaw at St Mary's for his attitude and midset.
The Argentinian spoke of how at Southampton he felt that Shaw was not ready to make the sacrifices needed to make it at the top level.
"I felt his head was not in the right place to make the sacrifices and decisions that are necessary at that age."
Pochettino seems to have been proved right and at 22 Shaw is now at a crossroads and clearly needs to get away from Old Trafford to try and kick start his career, he has been linked with a return to St Mary's but clearly he feels that he is capable of more, although it is hard to think of one of the other big six clubs who would be interested in him given his track record since he left the South Coast in 2014.
Indeed Saints would only be interested if they received a big offer for Ryan Bertrand, our current left back proved to be a shrewd piece of business, selling Shaw for £30 million and getting Bertrand for £12 million now can be seen as typical Saints transfer dealings, sell high, buy low and then develope the player.
But Shaw would be a risk and one that we would perhaps not be willing to take especially at the wageds he would demand.
Word is on Manchester is that he would be available on loan in January, his contractual status appears unclear, the four year deal he signed in 2014 expires next summer, although United do have the option to extend it for a further year, whether they have done that yet is not known and a loan deal might give them the opportunity to see if he is worth another year or whether they are going to write off their losses on a player who seemingly had the World at his feet a few years ago and now could be following another former Saint's left back Wayne Bridge into the list of those whose career faltered after leaving St Mary's, Bridge did stay and get his grounding in before his move, but at 22 when he left for Chelsea he had already played nearly half of the total league games he would manage in his entire career.
Shaw is still only just over the half way mark at Old Trafford to match the number of Premier league games he played for Saints, hopefully his career will not go the same way as Bridge's, but the next seven months or so are going to be crucial.