Former Southampton midfielder, Morgan Schneiderlin has admitted that he rejected a chance to sign for Tottenham before the Saints eventually snapped him up.
Schneiderlin arrived on the shores of England very much as an unknown quantity but his rise mirrored that of Southampton’s as he was one of the club’s standout players in their first couple of seasons in the Premier League.
The France international got his big move to Manchester United in 2015 but things did not work out for him at Old Trafford as he was sold to Everton just a year later.
After four decent yet unspectacular seasons at Goodison Park, Schneiderlin has now returned to Ligue 1 with Nice.
Ahead of his first season back in France after twelve years in England, the midfielder has now admitted that Spurs and Chelsea both wanted to sign him when he was just a teenager.
However, he insisted that he chose to move to the St Mary’s as he knew Southampton would offer him the chance to grow as a player.
Speaking to Ouest-France, Schneiderlin said: “My decision was thoughtful. Tottenham and Chelsea had previously made offers to me. But I hadn’t felt myself then.
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“Southampton is a training club. I visited the infrastructures with my dad, and it clicked immediately. I was criticised at Strasbourg, like I left for money when I was only earning €100 more.
“(In Southampton) I was surprised by the constant encouragement in training, the total commitment and the incredible tackles. I learned to let go of the ball faster. Then no longer to count my successful passes but the number of balls intercepted, won.”
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Schneiderlin arguably failed to live up to his potential in English football as he seemed on the cusp of becoming one of the best box-to-box midfielders in the league before he moved to Manchester United. In fact, we were also heavily linked with him back then due to the Pochettino connection and perhaps the Argentine could have helped him live up to his potential at Spurs.
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