Are Southampton missing Morgan Schneiderlin?

Southampton have had to cope with the loss of many key players over the last few seasons, however, it hasn’t seemed to affect them. Saints manager Ronald Koeman has done a fantastic job in getting the most money for the departing players and replacing them with players of similar quality. Even after losing players such as Dejan Lovren, Adam Lallana, Luke Shaw, Calum Chambers and Rickie Lambert; Ronald Koeman still managed to guide the Saints to a fantastic seventh place finish in the Premier League last season. Albeit being helped heavily by the two players that left the Saints this summer.

This summer was not quite as hectic in terms of departures from Southampton. Just Nathaniel Clyne and Morgan Schneiderlin moved on to Liverpool and Manchester United respectively. Morgan Schneiderlin has perhaps been Southampton’s best and most consistent performers in recent years and the 25-year-old’s meteoric rise up the Football League alongside Southampton certainly didn’t go unnoticed by the top dogs of English football.

Morgan Schneiderlin joined Southampton back in 2008 from Strasbourg for £1.2m, who play in the French second division. This was when Southampton were in the Championship and he was just 18-years-old. Morgan Schneiderlin stayed with the Saints following their relegation to League One and then played a pivotal part in their rise to the Premier League with back to back promotions from League One and then the Championship. He went on to make over 200 league appearances at Southampton and scored 13 goals before he left to join Manchester United this summer for a fee much larger than what the Saints paid for him.

Not many people may have known who he was when Southampton first went up to the Premier League and was an unknown quantity at first. Mainly down to all of the talk about if Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert could make it in the Premier League. He certainly made his impact however, playing a key part in Southampton achieving a top-ten finish in their second season back in the Premier League and slowly becoming known as one of the most consistent defensive midfielders in the English top flight with Southampton.

Morgan Schneiderlin’s impressive performances for Southampton also earned him his first international cap in 2014. There was speculation over his eligibility to play for England; however that was quickly squashed as he had played for France at a number of youth levels. He made his France debut in a friendly win over Jamaica, playing for just three minutes. He has since had 12 more caps for the French national side, including 90 minutes in the World Cup last summer against Ecuador in their last group game as the French manager gave the ‘fringe’ players a run-out.

After the World Cup in Brazil before the start of last season there was intense speculation over his club future and did even have an outburst on social media after Southampton refused to let him leave. Maurico Pochettino left joined Tottenham as their manager from Southampton and wanted to bring Morgan Schneiderlin with him to White Hart Lane. Despite this, Morgan Schneiderlin did stay at Southampton for another season instead of joining Spurs and got his ‘dream’ move to Manchester United this summer for a fee believed to be in the region of £24m. Morgan Schneiderlin has since said that he is happy he didn’t move to Tottenham and is glad he stayed at Southampton for another year, encouraging Victor Wanyama to do the same after the Kenyan was linked to Tottenham.

He is certainly fitting in at Manchester United and ReadManUtd‘s main man James Browning had this to say when I asked him about the Frenchman:

He’s been everything we expected from him – he fills in as a third centre back when our full-backs go forward but also does an attacking job himself.

He’s arguably our only box-to-box midfielder which is absolutely crucial. I think any team would miss him, so I’d call him a bargain!

This left a huge gap in the Southampton side as he was arguably their most important player and gave Ronald Koeman a humongous task of trying to replace him. With Victor Wanyama, James Ward-Prowse and Steven Davis already capable of playing the role, Koeman brought in Jordy Clasie from Feyenoord and Oriol Romeu from Chelsea. Jordy Clasie only made his league debut at the weekend due to injury and Oriol Romeu is yet to nail down a starting place. This leaves the question; are Southampton missing Morgan Schneiderlin?

In my opinion, you are always going to struggle at first after losing a player of such quality but it is how you react to the situation and about other players stepping up to the plate that determines how much you miss them. Victor Wanyama is one player that has certainly done that. Some fantastic performances from Victor Wanyama has had his name linked with moves away from St.Mary’s. However, despite his eagerness to leave in the summer; he stayed. It was very important that he did so. Had he left then Southampton would have lost the spine of their side with the two holding midfielders of last season gone. It is, in my opinion, still up for grabs in regards to the second holding position alongside Victor Wanyama.

Jordy Clasie, Steven Davis, James Ward-Prowse and Oriol Romeu are the contenders for the spot. Steven Davis is the most experienced of the four and is Ronald Koeman’s preferred choice at the moment. I still think that James Ward-Prowse is the future holding midfielder for Saints and England for years to come. However, he is still young and for now needs time to develop. Jordy Clasie will likely challenge Steven Davis for the spot and with his qualities, take over from Steven Davis in the near future to play alongside Victor Wanyama in the holding roles in midfield for Ronald Koeman’s men.

Now, none of these players are quite like Morgan Schneiderlin in the way they play, maybe Oriol Romeu, but they still have their own talents and Jordy Clasie in particular looks like a very promising signing. I am not saying that he is a like for like replacement for Morgan Schneiderlin but he will certainly add that extra something to the Saints midfield.

Southampton had a stuttering start to the season and it was evident that the midfield was becoming an issue for Southampton as they were leaving gaps for the opposition and exposing the defence far too often. This was highlighted in the game against Everton, in which Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley tore apart Southampton by picking up on this space and exploiting it. Southampton have since looked more secure in the middle of the park and recent form suggests that Southampton are coping well without Morgan Schneiderlin. Southampton currently sit 8th in the league, just one place below where they finished last year.

Do you think that Southampton are missing Morgan Schneiderlin?