Schneiderlin was ready to leave St Mary’s.
Southampton midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin has spoken out about his summer of transfer speculation with both Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur interested in signing the Frenchman.
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Schneiderlin looked set to leave St Mary’s and become part of the exodus that saw Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana and Dejan Lovren join Liverpool, Luke Shaw head to Manchester United and the Gunners sign Calum Chambers.
Yet new Saints manager Ronald Koeman and club chairman Ralph Krueger made it clear that the 24-year-old would not be allowed to leave and in the end deadline day came and went with no new developments.
Yet Schneiderlin himself has now admitted that he was set to leave the south coast and had agreed a deal with another side, only for his current team to block the move.
“My situation was simple: At the end of the season my goal was to take the next step and join a club playing in the Champions League or the UEFA Cup,” the France international was quoted by the Mirror.
“I found an agreement to join another club that wasn’t in the Champions League. I really did want to make a new start.
“There were offers on the table but Southampton made a clear choice, which was to keep me after the departure of certain players.
“I was ‘blocked’ but I must accept that because I have three years remaining on my contract.”
It seems likely that the club that Schneiderlin is referring to is Spurs, with their boss Mauricio Pochettino having managed the midfield ace for 16 months and is also understood to still be interested in him and teammate Jay Rodriguez.
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