Ronald Koeman has issued a hands-off warning to Manchester United and Chelsea over his Southampton star Sadio Mane.
Advertisement
Saturday’s start against Stoke was Long’s first in the Premier League since August and he has not scored since the opening weekend of the season at Newcastle United.
The likes of Graziano Pelle and Sadio Mane have, by no surprise, stood out for the Saints so far this season, but they can not do this on their own.
Koeman, though, insisted Southampton will reject any offers for the Senegal global.
He has two-and-a-half years left on his contract and Koeman said: “We will sell nobody. So hopefully we can see the same again now”.
“Because the player is developing himself, with all the help from the technical staff and the rest of the players”.
“But it’s the reason why the team and the club is growing, and why we have 18 worldwide players”.
“We have other players in the team, so we need to deal with it. We’ll still play with 11 there, so we should be alright”, he said.
“It’s a normal progress for players who are developing themselves”.
“In my opinion it’s not about money, it’s about ambition of players and people”.
Advertisement
“Jay had the surgery last Tuesday and we are happy about that, because that was the best [thing] to do”, Koeman said at Thursday’s media conference ahead of the weekend trip to Manchester City.
