No bids for Manchester United and Tottenham targets Saido Mane and Victor Wanyama, says Koeman
Ronald Koeman has confirmed that Southampton have not received any bids from Manchester United or Tottenham for respective targets Sadio Mane and Victor Wanyama.
Mauricio Pochettino enquired at his former club as to the availability of midfield enforcer Wanyama, who formed a powerful pairing with Morgan Schneiderlin last season before the Frenchman left for Manchester United.
Koeman is eager to hold on to the 24-year-old, who has two years left on his deal at St Mary’s, and will also look to resist interest in Mane from his former boss Louis van Gaal. And the Southampton boss maintains he has not received any formal offer for either of his players.
"Listen, there is no bid for any player. Not for Wanyama, not for Sadio, not anyone," Koeman said.
"We have to deal with rumours of the press and maybe somebody of Manchester - I don't know.
"There is no contact and no bid for nobody and we don't sell any more players. That is very clear in my opinion. I don't like [these rumours] because maybe players are thinking and they are not then focused on what they have to do.”
Southampton have lost several of their best players to top-six sides in recent years, with Schneiderlin’s move to United coming a year after Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw and Dejan Lovren all departed St Marys. And Koeman admits it is hard for mid-table sides to hold on to their stars when they are linked with bigger clubs.
"It is the worst situation for the smaller clubs because nobody talks about the best players of Manchester City, United or Chelsea, because they are in the best place to be.
"But teams like Southampton - they have to deal with this and that is not easy. It makes rumours and everyone is talking about it. We have to play and that is difficult.
"If they don't change the window from September 1, we will always have these rumours."
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