• Premier League

Southampton to decide on Shaw's future

ESPN staff
April 18, 2014
Luke Shaw has been strongly linked with a move away from Southampton © PA Photos
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Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino has confirmed that club owner Katharina Liebherr and chairman Ralph Krueger will decide on the future of in-demand defender Luke Shaw at the end of the season.

Shaw has been heavily linked with a move to Manchester United in recent days, with ESPN revealing in February that the bid made by the Old Trafford club for the teenage England full-back "remained on the table" ahead of the summer transfer window.

Now Pochettino has confirmed that the decision on Shaw's future will be made by club chiefs, as he has expressed his hope that the left full-back will still be at St Mary's Stadium next season.

"If there is any decision to be made [regarding Luke Shaw], it is for the owners, not for me," Pochettino said at his latest news conference.

"At the end of the day, Luke Shaw is a player that belongs to Southampton, and it will be the club, Southampton, that makes the decision as to what happens with his future.

"Of course there will be interest for him, but so far right now he's a player at Southampton and it looks as though it will continue that way.

"There are a lot of players who are under interest at Southampton, but they are all very happy at the football club, and most of them are under long-term contracts.

"They understand the situation of what it means to be a professional player in the Premier League. There's nothing really we have to speak about on that front."

Pochettino insisted his own future at the club was not an issue on his agenda despite press speculation linking him with a move to other Premier League clubs such as Tottenham and he already seems to have his sights set on Southampton's plans for next season.

"This season we're improving standards again, finishing higher than we did last season. It's moving upwards all the time," he added. "To break that barrier of eighth position we'll need to look at what other clubs are doing, in the Europa League and Champions League.

"We'll assess as we can at the end of the season, and we'll be able to see whether we want to finish, eighth, seventh, sixth, fifth or fourth. According to that, we'll be able to decide what goals we're imposing on ourselves, how that set-up is achieved and how we go about achieving those goals.

"If you look at this season it will be an even longer summer because of the World Cup, and we'll have a longer time to make those decisions as well."

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