Morgan Schneiderlin Admits he Needs Champions League Football Amid Arsenal Interest

Southampton midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin admits that it would be hard to turn down a club offering Champions League football after being linked with a move to Arsenal.

The French midfielder has enjoyed another stellar campaign at St Mary's under Mauricio Pochettino but it was not enough to earn him a place in Didier Deschamps' 23-man squad for the World Cup, although he was handed a place on the stand-by list.

Schneiderlin's six years on the south coast have previously seen him pass under the radar of his national team managers and the 24-year-old admits a move to a club competing in European football's premier club competition could bring him into contention.

"For my progress and my visibility, it would be better to play for a club who play in the Champions League," Schneiderlin said, the Daily Express report.

"I know there is a lot of speculation, but I still have three years on my contract, it does not depend on me. We'll see in the coming weeks."

The futures of a number of Southampton first team stars is expected to come under scrutiny in the coming months. The 18-year-old full back Luke Shaw has already reportedly been the subject of a £27m bid from Manchester United, who are looking for a long term replacement for Patrice Evra on the left hand side of defence.

Saints have also reportedly received an opening bid from Liverpool for Adam Lallana, while Arsenal were credited with interest in Callum Chambers as the club consider replacements for the outgoing Bacary Sagna.

However Southampton have previously insisted that there will be no mass exodus at St Mary's this summer, despite speculation also surrounding the future of their manager, who has been linked with the vacant role at White Hart Lane.

"As we stand, there have been no enquiries or offers for any of our players. That is the truth," Reed told BBC Sport last month.

"No club has been given permission to talk to any of our players. We want to improve the squad going forward and retain our current players..

"Any enquiries we get will probably be met with a 'no, not for sale'. Our intention is to keep this very good team together and build on it by bringing in players to improve on that. We have our targets and these are things we talk about on a daily basis."