Ronald Koeman has confirmed that Southampton rebuffed a bid from Manchester United for Morgan Schneiderlin and that no other clubs have lodged offers in the two weeks since.
The 25-year-old defensive midfielder has been tipped to leave St Mary’s this summer with Arsenal one of a number of other clubs thought to be keeping tabs on his situation.
Schneiderlin was heavily linked with the Gunners back in January but has seemingly been downgraded as a priority signing in light of Francis Coquelin’s unexpected (but very welcome) rise to prominence.
Speaking at the first day of his side’s pre-season training, Koeman told reporters: “[There’s been] a lot of speculation, but two weeks ago we had a bid of Manchester United, it wasn’t enough, it wasn’t serious, and no more bids till today.
“Everybody knows the situation of Morgan. I understand the player – if he can get a big move to a big one [club], I can understand it.
“I hope that if there is any business, that it will be soon because it’s best for the player, best for us, we have to prepare ourselves if we sell the player.
“No, of course I’ve had a lot of meeting with Morgan. I had a meeting last week with Morgan, everybody knows his situation. But it’s important for the player to do a good pre-season. And we will see what happens in the next few days.
“I don’t talk about money, about numbers, it’s not my business, it’s up to the club.”
Koeman also revealed that Schneiderlin, who has been at Southampton for seven years, had missed the first day of pre-season with illness. The player is expected to join up with his teammates when they head to Austria for a training camp.
Not that excited but Arsene knows best.
Well I hope whoever is coming get us Wow! Just like we did with Alexis and Ozil. United scouts must be crap anyway when you think what they paid for luke Shaw and fawcow. I’m very optimistic this summer. COYG
My Southampton supporting friend is amazed at the revenue they have got in on players sales and the cr*p they have sold, especially to Liverpool. And Luke Shaw, £30m…
More like they turned into crap once they were sold, but they were selling some of their best players. Good bye Clyne, we saw your talent so briefly…Brenda you murderer!
When will the FA charge Brenda for ruining young British talent? Outrageous behaviour from the FA! Outrageous I tell you!
Lovren, always crap.
Yes, delightful though it is that Southampton are making all this money – they genuinely deserve it for doing things right – we’ve already made our contribution to their coffers and any more would be too much. Premiership players are overpriced, the inevitable consequence of having idiots like Brendan Rodgers causing hyperinflation. My preferences: Carvalho (expensive but still cheaper than Schneiderlin as well as being younger and more versatile), Vidal (well, Sanchez would like it), that Sevilla players with the unspellable name who might be the best of them all. Then again, if we’re keeping Arteta for another season do… Read more »
baby pole.. ROFL.. made my day.. lol
Fail to see the real relevance to Arsenal here..
It’s relevant as it is what we don’t do ie buy expensive sh*te. Expensive yes, sh*te yes (though far less recently).
Leave that to Sp*rs, ManU amongst others.
I still remember the day Silvestre’s signing was announced, and that odd feeling of disbelief, horror and grim amusement at just how much the stadium move had hurt us in the short term…
I remember that day too, I had my Arsenal.com homepage up refreshing like crazy hoping for a new signing, then popped out to the shops only to return to the face of Silvestre holding up our shirt. Was absolutely raging.
Time for wenger to enter a suitable bid.
… of whatever Utd bid + £1
Arsene: 24,000,002, final offer.
Koeman: You wanna know how I got these scars?
Wenger doesn’t want him. If he did he’d have lodged a rival bid to Utd’s. He’s happy with coquelin (rightly so) and has flamini, arteta and bielik to back up. Next summer (maybe Winter) will be when we strengthen DM as flamini and arteta will surely depart. The only priority this window will be another forward as the GK situation is tied up, and Wenger has gone public on how much he rates Paulista, so no signing there. We’ll sign one more first team player. I think it will be towards the end of the window and I think it… Read more »
Arteta and Flamini have proven to be not good enough in the role. Bielik at least 3 years away from being ready. That leaves Coquelin having to stay fit and keep his form at a high level. Massive gamble IMO for a team with genuine title aspirations.
Austria? Training camp? Easier for Sir Arsene Wenger then. Less commute.
Carvalho staying at Sporting Lisbon and Vidal seems to be heading to Real Madrid. Would be great to get Morgan Schneiderlin to compete with Coquelin.
I had to like this just for your Black Dynamite picture. I suppose this comment would have sufficed but I’m a maverick who plays by nobody’s rules, not even my own.
Gotta get your hands off that Anaconda Malt Liquor 🙂
Am I the only person to think we don’t really need Schneiderlin? Coquelin has been immense you wouldn’t want to cut down his playing time. Morgan would demand to be a starter and it’d be alot of money. I’d rather get an upgrade back up on Flamini and invest in a striker to rival Giroud? Thoughts?
I think we don’t really need anyone, but we should still be trying to improve. I don’t think we desperately need to improve on Giroud or Coquelin, but we do need to make sure we have good competition/cover for them, so they can be rested/dropped/replaced when injured/made second choice as appropriate. I personally think Welbeck and Walcott are better competition/cover for Giroud than Arteta and Flamini are for Coquelin, so I would address the DM position first. However, I think Wenger is happy with his squad, and what we’ll do the rest of the summer will depend more on who’s… Read more »
No i would agree – the gulf is not in the first team for this position – it is on the bench. As such Wenger may elect to a/ gamble on flam and arteta b/ or buy ??? c/ or promote -Bielik, Hayden d/ or recycle – Chambers, OX He may wait until preseason and see how options c and d look. If he goes for a striker i think it will be to complement or contrast, rather than challenge Giroud. Giroud is great at what it is he is. and someone else who is what it is he is… Read more »
Ox is not and never will be a DM. Chambers maybe but I think he’d be much better as a centre back. He has the height and composure under pressure on the ball that would be perfect if he can maintain his discipline.
Santi Cazorla will never be a deep lying midfielder and the Coq is a temporary solution …
beware the absolutes…
Ox has a physique on him that could bully most dms and the ability to change pace, pass, dribble and tackle.
I don’t disagree with your assertions Double but I think his Dribbling ability and close control would be wasted doing Donkey work. I saw a stat last season (Could have been 7am who put it up) saying he was the most successful young dribbler in all of Europes leagues last season?Someone feel free to shoot me down if i am talking shite on that one, my main point however, is i think putting him further back down the pitch is a waste of his attacking talents. Personally I feel all we definitively need is another striker and I only want… Read more »
Morgan who? We got the Coq, baby!
If we not going to get Morgan let’s just hope Coq doesn’t get an injury
Kind of uncharacteristic piece of arseblog news? I think we all know Wenger isn’t going to drop £20m+ on a defensive mid when we have a rejuvenated Coq.
For me, it feels like the Cech situation. I was skeptical of the idea of the player actually joining the team so I just played up the idea that ospina and szcz were plenty good. But now that we have him, I’m ecstatic at the competition for place and see that any improvement on the current squad is welcomed. Schneiderlin statistically may not be that much better than coquelin but he is definitely an improvement on flamini and arteta. It would be a welcome competition for position. However, anybody thinking that Schneiderlin automatically gets first team because of a big… Read more »
I see what you’re saying.
I’m pretty sure Wenger will put chambers as back up though as he’s willing to be utility for now as he’s young and has long term contract and is flexible so will get game time in various positions.
For one, Coquelin is much more mobile than Schneiderlin, and barely an inch shorter.
As they say, it’s not about the size but how you use it.
But what if we hurt our Coq? The drop off in quality to Arteta/Flamini is grim.
Our Coq is pretty hard though
People thumbing this comment down like it isn’t the truth, an injured Coq puts us straight back to Flam or Arteta who just aren’t good enough any more, Arteta can stay because he still has something to offer but Flamini really doesn’t, he would struggle to get in most premier league teams let alone a title challenging one……get rid………..just in a way that doesn’t upset our special magical Mesut
But schneiderlin is older than Coq and will want game time. And its uncharacteristic of Wenger to put a player in front of solid emerging talent. You’d be a madman to do that to Coq.
Absolutely nobody should be guaranteed a place in the team, if somebody comes in, whether it be a transfer or a squad player, if they perform better then the other player they should be the one playing. Competition for places brings out the best in players, having Arteta and Flam as your ‘competition’ isn’t going to improve anybody
Man Utd Bid + Euro 1
Manures bid was not serious…. so Euro 1 added to it would only be not serious plus a euro…
Not Serious bid could have been “1 Morgan Schneiderlein for 1 Euro Eating Greek Duck” Then that duck would eat our feckin’ euro…. rendering our bid “not serious but with extra poo”
I’d offer yaya sanogo on load for a season and a collection of funny looking cat paintings.
There has not been such a plethora of good holding midfielders that I thought we could pick up, than now.
There are numerous players that I would be happy for the club to acquire and don’t think we should ignore the chance to strengthen.
I would be happy for one of the Bender twins, Schneiderlin, Illaramendi etc, but two players we have not been linked with that I absolutely would love us to sign are Javi Martinez or Blaise Matuidi!
They arn’t linked for a reason: they arn’t available. I doubt Arsene would be interested in Martinez anyway, but you can bet he’d go for Matuidi if he could.
If PSG does something silly like signing Pogba and they decide Matuidi is the one to make way you can bet Arsene will bid for him. But short of that I don’t see any possibility of him arriving.
I would personally love him at Arsenal as a backup coq. But it will be hard to see how a 25 million pound man would only be a backup.
This article is definitely not-at-all stretching for any bit of “Arsenal” news.
Leave Bloggs alone he’s not match fit yet!
Schneiderlin can play DM or CM, so would be competition / backup for Coq and Ramsey. Those are two positions where the drop off in quality is pretty noticeable at the moment. Arteta is still a good backup, but Flamini really shouldn’t be near the bench if we’re serious about challenging. Meanwhile, Jack and the Ox are great and *can* play as central midfielders, but the brute facts are that they’re injury prone, and also they’re probably at their best playing further forward and on the wing (respectively). So I think a move would make sense, although I have no… Read more »
I may be wrong but I’d suggest that Wenger deems Arteta (pending recovery from injury) as good enough to play the holding/pivot role at home against the lesser sides. Ramsey could also be an option?
Ramsey could play that role, sure, if he’s up for it. But he hasn’t shown any interest in doing it. He seems much more interested in camping out in the opposition penalty box these days.
wut?
There must be a reason Wenger hasn’t gone for him yet, during all these years. Schneiderlin is a quality player he isn’t even a starter for France who are far from having the best midfield in the world. That must mean something. I think we should aim higher if we are to win the league.
Well, clearly then we’re going after Cabaye.
Coq isn’t in the French team so it doesn’t mean that much.
Personally, I think January to May only maybe matic equalled Coq in the league in that position. He is the answer.
The issue is back up for when he’s injured or needs rest. Arteta is our only other feasible option and he has been out for an entire year and approaching his mid-30s.
It’s a very difficult decision for Wenger to make.
Yeah, I forgot how odd the French national team can be. Sahko instead of Koscielny… HAHAHAHA.
Of course Wenger won’t buy Schneiderlin: actually making sure that we have at least two quality players in a key position is something Le Prof isn’t keen on. Far better to run Le Coq into the ground and then rely on the past-it Flamini and Arteta when it comes to the business end of this coming season. A couple of has-beens in midfield is just what we need when we go to Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge, desperate for points. I know it’s only early July, but I’m already starting to worry. Yes, we’ve finally acquired a world-class keeper, but… Read more »
The more you complain, the more we seem win trophies and improve – despite Arsene doing exactly the opposite of what you think is gospel truth… So please continue chunks!! Can’t wait to see you eat some more of that humble pie at the end of the season!
to be fair – how much did we improve this year? third vs fourth, but it was probably one of the easiest years to finish in the top four and we still struggled for the first half of the year. last season we were in first place for longer than any other team and won the FA cup. this year we beat man city away, but our record against chelsea and manure were the same as last year in the league. we didn’t beat spurs once this year and last year we dominated them…and they really were shit this year.… Read more »
Fatgooner makes some valid points. We are still unable to compete against Chelsea
Agree with Fatgooner on this one – we are all talking about a cover on Coq but why shouldn’t we use 2 strong DMs in some matches, like manure, shitty, chelski, l’pool away? Coq + Schneiderlin/Bender/Carvalho (insert a name here) could give us more balance in front of the defence, while both can make a good pass forward, they are not just midfield enforcers. So I am totally up for one more DM purchase this summer. Also think, will all due respect that Flamini’s days in Arsenal shirt are outnumbered, he is too crazy, unstable, I’m afraid he’ll be booked… Read more »
Overrated. A good player but is he really the player we want to bring in to add a different dimension in midfield? I don’t see it. We don’t want to be in the business of just adding cover. We want capability now. There have been many players frankly hyped up by the media before. MVilla, Melo, Capoue have all been mooted as the next big thing in midfield. Where are they now with their careers? None exactly world beaters. Similarly Carvalho is a solid player but doesn’t wow me. I feel we need someone to combine a bit of the… Read more »
We have two quality players in almost every position : CF – Giroud Welbeck RW – Walcott Ox LW – Alexis (?????) AM – Ozil Santi CM – Jack Ramsey DM – Coquelin (?????) DM – Arteta FLamini RB – Bellerin Debuchy LB – Monreal Gibbs CB – Per Calum CB – Koscielny Gabriel GK – Cech (Ospina or Szsc) Rosicky likely gone (as Arteta or Flamini). Campbell Gnabry and Akpom (and yes Sanogo)will be assessed pre-season and may take one slot. One may do a Bellerin or Coquelin. Or not in which case Wenger will dip in for another… Read more »
Fatty, as negative as always…
****pessimist***
I’m certain wenger will sign one or two more top players this transfer window. With the squad we have at the moment I am very optimistic about our title ambitions but maybe one more defensive midfielder and another world class striker to really make our ambitions clear. I’m hoping for schneiderlin and higuain. If we don’t sign anyone else I will still be very happy because we needed a top keeper and we’ve got that.
Higuain???
NO Thanks
Of course – was questioning the post above mine.
This is one thing I can almost guarantee. If Arsene brings in a DM it will be very late in the transfer window and it will not be Schneiderlin or all the other players being linked in the press. Here is why: Arsene believes Biliek is a huge talent and he’ll use the pre-season to evaluate if he is ready to step into the first team set up behind Coquelin. If Biliek shows he is ready to step up, then there will be no need to bring in anyone. If he is a year away, then Arsene would probably rely… Read more »
Didnt arteta just sign a new extension? To me thats a good indication we arent in the market for a new midfielder. Wilshire, ramsey, coquelin & cazorla would be our first preferences. With arteta, flamini and even rosicky able to fill in the centre. To me that is already the perfect mix of youth and experience. Unless we are considering replacing diaby, but i highly doubt that seeing he was never really relied upon. For me if we were going to sign someone, it should be a wide man to replace podolski. With theo, giroud and welbeck with the emergence… Read more »
If we wanted experience we should have put in a cheeky bid for Pirlo. Even if he played half as well as he did in the last few seasons I think his calm would spread through the team. Then we could pray that he taught his ball retention skills to Wilshere and Zelalem. It is painful to dream.
If we want to win EPL…..Just get World class DM + ST
and rid ourselves of Flamini + Sanogo
Thiago Motta anyone?
Can we get Cabaye?