The last number of few windows have been a familiar yet frustrating merry-go-round for Southampton fans, with a swinging door at St Mary’s almost becoming the norm.

The Saints continue to play expansive and attractive football, which in turn has drawn in some of the nation’s biggest teams as suitors for their players. Over recent years international stars have been sold on at considerable profit, with the club seemingly powerless to hold onto their prized assets.

However, with a formidable scouting network earning its crust, on almost every occasion Southampton have replaced a departing star name with a much cheaper alternative that has gone on to hold his own.

Of the current squad, there are a number of players that are being linked with exits, with none more apparent than Sadio Mane. The Senegalese attacker has lit up English football since arriving in the summer of 2014, with his pace, power and precision making him a feared opponent up and down the land. It has been Mane’s physical attributes, goal threat and explosiveness on the counter attack that has kept the Saints as one of the most unpredictable and dangerous teams in the Premier League.

However, as with plenty of other stars in the recent past, the 23-year-old’s standout performances have led to links with other supposedly more-illustrious clubs.

Manchester United are the team most commonly mentioned as a major suitor of the versatile African attacker, despite other top European clubs also thought to have an interest in him. Talk in the press suggests that the Red Devils made an approach for Mane last summer, only for Southampton to hold their nerve and declare the player not for sale. It is believed that Louis van Gaal’s men are ready to launch another bid for the Saints star this month, which will again test his employers’ resolve.

Mane was benched in the recent 1-0 defeat to Norwich after a disciplinary issue, with rumblings coming out of the south coast club that the former Red Bull Salzburg forward is unsettled.

One of the things Southampton have got right over recent years is deciding when to sell their best players.

On almost every occasion, when the Saints have accepted the overtures of a fellow Premier League side, the St Mary’s team have maximised the transfer fee they have received and the player has more often than not failed to deliver at his new club.

With this in mind and the fact that a toothless United side are looking increasingly devoid of ideas in the final third, it could well be the perfect time for Southampton to part company with another star name. Mane’s valuation now is as high as it has ever been and, with the player supposedly unsettled, the figure the Saints receive could well be lower in the summer if they hold onto him.

Southampton have the ability to hold an increasingly desperate and cash-rich United to ransom. And as such, if the Hampshire club can pull another diamond from the rough to replace him, selling Mane for top dollar this month could well be a wise move.

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