According to the Daily Echo, Luke Shaw wont be offered a new deal till he reaches his 18th birthday in July.

In an article written by an author who has clearly been tipped off by someone, presumably not the club itself, it is claimed that Saints now have a policy where youngsters wont be offered a big money contract till they reach their 18th birthday, whatever their status at the club.

This leaves Shaw on a contract that although tieing him to the club till 2015 means that he is on a fairly modest wage, in line with a player in the academy side and a fraction of what most of his team mates in the first team squad are earning.

This will obviously alert those big clubs already linked with Shaw and they will use this fact as an excuse to start a man hunt in the January transfer window and try and blind Shaw with a salary many times more than the one he will be receiving at the moment.

Saints are caught between a rock and a hard place, its commendable that they are trying to keep young players feet on the ground by sticking to a strict wage policy, however there is perhaps some occasions when you have to be flexible in those rules and this is perhaps one of those occasions.

The diachotomy of the situation is that Shaw who has made the first team breakthrough on a regular basis and who was in the same academy year as Jamie Ward Prowse will stay on a relative pittance compared to the rest of the premier League, whereas Ward Prowse who hasnt featured in a Premier League game in two months is now on a far bigger wage having signed a long term five year deal back in November, the only reason being that he is eight months older than Shaw.

Young players now unfortunately look for financial security ahead of whats best for the developement of their playing career, Shaw will be being told by the big clubs and possibly his agent that whilst he remains on a relatively short term deal on low wages he is open to a serious injury that could finish his career before its barely started and leave him out of work once his contract has run out with little in the bank, whereas a deal similar to Alex Oxlade Chamberlain recieved at Arsenal could secure him financially for life, a £20k a week deal over five years would guarantee him five million without taking into account signing on fees etc.

So Saints have to play a tricky game, on one hand they do not want to set a precedent and start to build a squad full of arrogant rich young men with no desire, yet on the other hand they have to do something to dissuade Shaw's suitors and prevent them turning his head, this is no slur on the club, as i say they are in a position where they are damned if they do damned if they dont.

In recent years we have lost Theo Walcott, Gareth Bale & Alex Oxlade Chamberlain to so called big clubs, each of them went for one thing and one thing only and that was money, in the case of Walcott & Bale their developement went backwards and in the case of Theo it could be said that he has never truly reached his potential never really establishing himself as an automatic first choice at Arsenal, but then again under Arsene Wenger who can truly say that.

So I think Saints need to act now and act decisively with Luke Shaw, thrash out a deal now that and send a message to those watching him, lets not give them any excuse to close in, lets show Luke that we value him, even if we are loathe to give him that big pay day till his 18th, work out a deal till July that would see him getting substancial appearance bonus's, Shaw is no different from any other player, he wants to ensure his financial security first and no one can blame him if that is the case, but as a club we have to accept that we get big talents like Shaw or Bale etc rarely, when we get them we have to look after them, Shaw will probably laugh off that JWP is earning substancially more than him, but when he sees contemporaries like Raheem Sterling getting big deals he will want to at least be on more than a couple of grand a week.

The transfer market is as it is, we cannot stop other clubs turning our young players heads, but what we can do is show our players that we care about them, over the past few months i heard the phrase "If your good enough your old enough" used a lot with regard to Shaw, that being the case we have to pay him a fair days pay for a fair days work.

In conclusion as I said this isnt in any way shape or form any condemnation of the club, they have some difficult times ahead, if they deal with it now then Im sure Luke Shaw will want to stay at St Mary's, but quote policy at a player and make him feel he is nothing more than a number on the payoll till his 18th birthday and like many before him at many other clubs, he will feel that whether that football club is Saints, Norwich or anyone else, if they dont pay him what he can get elsewhere then there is nothing tieing him to stay where he is.         

Photo: Action Images

slynch added 11:22 - Dec 19 I am not a lawyer in this field but I think that a contract with an under 18 yo is worthless. You could offer them big money to stay but they could walk anytime they like. Arsenal could offer Luke big money and he could take it and spend it on bigger and better skateboards and the the day he was 18 he could walk right back to Saints and sign a new contract. Any Contract Lawyers out there, today?? As regards Ox and Walcott moving only for the money that is a bit unfair. If you or they were offered the same money to play for a small team or the best team in the land you'd be crazy to stay at the lesser team.

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mgprobert added 11:29 - Dec 19 As with everything going on behind the scenes at St Mary's none of us really know what the real situation is (despite a few who seem to need to pretend to be ITK). With all the planning and forethought that Saints appear to be putting into the future, and the policy of bringing young players up through the club, I can't really think that they are just sitting back and doing nothing!

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VeloSaint added 11:36 - Dec 19 Fully expect Shaw to sign just as JWP has.
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SaintNick added 12:08 - Dec 19 slynch, i think in football a contract is valid after 17 not 18, Shaw is already on a pro deal its just not very much, remember we lost Walcott just prior to his 17th birthday as there was some doubt that he would sign a contract and that Arsenal might just talk him into refusing to sign a pro contract and thus he could walk away and we would just get a tribunal fee from them. Your actually proving a point about money, your right who would stay on the same money, but Arsenal offered both AOC & Theo substancially more than Saints would pay, ther option was financial security or doing what would be best for their career and that would be learn your trade by playing games at Saints and then taking the big move, thats what used to happen, but now players cant risk missing out on a fortune if their career is ended by injury. MGprobert, who is caliming to be ITK on this, the aerticle in effect just reports what the echo is saying and then offers my opinion on why a 17 year old should be tied down quickly, at no stage have i seen anyone claim to know that Shaw will or wont sign Velo saint, why do you expect shaw to sign ? history ie theo, Bale & Walcott suggests that he will be off

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SonicBoom added 12:19 - Dec 19 I would say that Saints are not stupid. They know the value of the player, they know others are after him. football is too professional nowdays to make an error and let bigger clubs take him for virtually nothing or by offering him a few extra quid. Whatever we do , top players eventually gravitate toward the biggest clubs. We need to ensure that we either keep him for a few years by offering regular footy and a fair wage, or we make sure that anyone that wants him has to pay a lot to get him.

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bstokesaint added 13:14 - Dec 19 I really hope he signs because it's no coincidence our performances have improved somewhat since he came into the team. Who knows what is going through his head right now? Does he stick with team mates such as Reeves and JWP and other lads he's come through the ranks with or jump ship for bigger and better things? The problem is with young footballers, that they don't always have the vision a club has and get stars in their eyes. Just look at Walcott and how he was blown away by the prospect of playing with Henry. Everyone else knew that would never happen and he'd be in exodus for a couple of seasons, but he was gone in a flash. I just hope we can keep this young side together and go somewhere with it. The FA/ FIFA and governing bodies don't help out much either. They want teams to concentrate on home grown talent, but do nothing to protect clubs from losing youngsters in their first full season(s).

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Jesus_02 added 13:23 - Dec 19 I think its a little short sighted to say that Theo, Bale and AOC left because they where offered more money. People will always point at LeTiss and say that he could have achieved so much more if he had left saints. In fairness Theo left Saints and was rewarded with a trip to sit on the bench at the world cup at 16. Closer than Matty got to playing in a world cup. If Luke is sold the vision of Saints he will stay, if not he will leave. Cortese managed to convince Ramirez (despite Mark Lawrenson's assertions to the contrary) that Saints are a developing force in the Premier League. Lets hope he can do the same with Shaw

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slynch added 13:26 - Dec 19 Children can enter a contract but by enlarge can repudiate it at will. I don't know where you get 17 from I think it's been 18 since 1969. See if this helps you. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacity_in_English_law
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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 13:35 - Dec 19 Oxlade-Chamberlain has only made 11 starts for Arsenal in the Premiership in the two years he's been there. He would've got more than that already if he'd stayed with Saints, as well as playing 40 odd games in the Championship. He'd probably be a better player now if he'd stayed at Saints, got the games under his belt and experienced regular first team football. Hopefuly Shaw is smart enough to realise that he's playing Premiership football every week which is ideal for his developement. Its pointless going to Utd or Chelsea just to sit on the bench every week and play in thier U21 teams. Its down to Saints to do all they can to not let his head get turned by the big money and lifestyle offered by the big clubs. Saints should pay him what he's worth, get him to focus on improving his game and nothing more. He could be a future England left back and as long as Saints are in the Premiership and he is playing every week then Saints is the best place for him to be for the next few years.

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SaintNick added 14:15 - Dec 19 slynch, i wasnt talking about english law with regard to football contracts, but football law, which says you cant sign a professional deal till your 17, which is why the Walcott transfer had a lot of ifs and buts and a player has the freedom to walk at any time prior to his pro contract Reedy, the problem nowadays is the increased financial reward, before the premier league, the difference between staying at say saints and going to say Arsenal was negligible financially, meaning that if a young player didnt develope as was hoped or he got a career finishing injury he wasnt any worse off than at saints than arsenal. Look at the money say walcott was on at saints, £3k a week gets injured and career is over with a two year contract left is out of the game having earned barely £300k, 40% of which has gone in tax, goes to arsenal and guaranteed £5 million less tax whatever happens

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mgprobert added 15:25 - Dec 19 Sorry SaintNick my ITK comment was more general, not aimed at your article.
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hmmm added 15:48 - Dec 19 But this situation is different to Theo, Gareth and Alex. Now we are in the Prem. while we will never know what these 3 would have done if we had been in the Prem when they made their decisions, now we are (and hopefully still are next season - again if this does drag out until July, relegation would change things). I guess we now just have to watch and wait.
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REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 16:06 - Dec 19 Yes money is a huge incentive for players obviously. I just think that a young player with half a brain who's already taking home a hundred grand a year, would value career developement more than earning a few hundred grand more. I can understand Theo going to Arsenal and Bale going to Spurs, at the time Saints were on the verge of going bust in the Championship. But now we're in the Premiership, we can offer good wages and offer promising young players the chance to play reguarly at the highest level. Its a good place to be for the likes of Shaw, Clyne, Cork, Schneiderlin, Gazzaniga, Ward-Prowse etc etc. If Shaw is smart enough then he'll stay with us for a few more years.

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VeloSaint added 16:41 - Dec 19 Don't agree with your history comment Nick, the club is in a somewhat different place then when it sold Bale and Walcott. The only thing that could scupper him signing imo is relegation given he doesn't turn 18 until after the end of the season. That said if he was turning 18 tomorrow then I reckon he would sign just as JWP did.
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SaintNick added 22:56 - Dec 19 Your right velo the club is in a different place, the problem is back when we sold Theo the transfer was easy we couldnt compete with Arsenal, now its different do we try to keep our premiership status by paying over the odds for him and involving oursleves in a dutch auction, JWp is a different case I think , Shaw is higher rated
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Whatsforpud added 00:43 - Dec 20 Nick, you said in your article that Walcott and Bale's development went backwards when they moved. That might have been the case with Walcott, but as I remember Bale settled in pretty quickly at Spurs, before being moved up from back to attacking midfield. Regarding Shaw, it was ironic that Arsenal were looking at him last season, before most Saints' fans really knew he was here. At the start of this season, some people were suggesting he should be tried, but you, Nick, had thought he lacked experience. In hindsight, it would have been a good idea.

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SaintNick added 10:25 - Dec 20 Bale didnt settle in quickly at Spurs in fact he was considered something of a jonah I think they didnt win in his first 25 games or soemthing, after a couple of seasons they were ready to move him on to Nottingham Forest for a pittance, but luckily spurs had an injury crisis and they had to use Bale and he never looked back. This perhaps highlights the need for experience, Bale was thrown into the premier league with only 1 season in the Championship behind him and wasnt ready, at the start of this season I stated Shaw didnt have the experience, if we had thrown him in against the likes of Arsenal & Man Utd then he would have been skinned and perhaps setback a year in his developement, Adkins brought him in when we wee playing some of the lesser teams so he could get his feet under the table in an easier enviroment. My problem with playing shaw was nothing against the player himself but the issue of having no cover for the left back in the way Lallana plays, this is still an isssue as was shown at Liverpool where Shaw was murdered by Sterling and Johnson often two on one on him and looked decidedly average So in hidsight this perhaps would not have been a good idea Adkins bought him into the side at just the right time

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