Southampton manager Ronald Koeman has accused Manchester United of unsettling forward Sadio Mane, a player who Manchester United launched a £15m bid for on Wednesday. The Dutchman insists that none of his squad will be leaving in this transfer window, as no more first team players are for sale. Koeman also pointed the finger at the bigger clubs in England for unsettling the players of smaller teams with their interest.

“We have to deal about rumours from the press and maybe from Manchester.” Koeman said.

“I don’t know – because there is no contact and no bid for nobody and we don’t sell any more players. That is very clear in my opinion. We have to deal with the situation. I don’t like it because maybe players are thinking and they are not then focused on what they have to do.”

“The timing is always bad. Maybe it’s worse one day before we play at home but it’s always bad. We keep going. It is not 1 September yet. There are still 10 or 11 days to go, so we will see what happens.”

“It is the worst situation for the smaller clubs because nobody talks about the best players of 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 1 September, we will always have these rumours.”

Manchester United’s stance on Mane is still unclear. It is widely reported that a bid has been made, but it seems as if the definite response from the Saints was rejection. Whether United will go back in for the Senegalese forward is likely to be rumoured throughout the entirety of the transfer window.

[Quotes from the Guardian]