Southampton's Morgan Schneiderlin Hands Transfer Request to Pave Arsenal or Tottenham Switch

Arsenal and Tottenham have received a massive boost in pursuit of Morgan Schneiderlin as the Southampton star has reportedly submitted a transfer request to force a move, claims a report from Sky Sports.

Both the north London rivals are thought to be keen on signing the midfielder in the ongoing transfer window. The Saints have already lost five first-team players this summer to Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United, receiving over £90m in transfer fees.

Taking this into account, the south coast club's chairman Ralph Krueger has expressed his intentions to prevent more departures from St Mary's. However, the 54-year-old's words attracted criticism from Schneiderlin, who took to Twitter to say, "6 years of an amazing journey #saintsfc DESTROYED in 1 hour !!!"

The former Strasbourg starlet moved to St Mary's in 2008 and is valued at £27m. Earlier, reports have claimed that the 24-year-old prefers a move to White Hart Lane, where former Saints boss Mauricio Pochettino is currently overseeing the managerial duties.

The Argentinean, who was appointed as Tim Sherwood's successor in May, reportedly wants to be reunited with Schneiderlin along with Jay Rodriguez, who is also said to be a target for Liverpool. The French international will be hoping that the Southampton hierarchy will accept the transfer request and allow potential suitors to secure his services for the upcoming campaign.

Meanwhile, Krueger has also revealed that the club are reinvesting the money received from summer sales to bolster Ronald Koeman's squad before their Premier League campaign kick-off at Anfield on 17 August.

"Now we have finances and we are excited to continue in the rebuilding process. Over the next few weeks we will have players coming in and we will make transfers to strengthen the squad," Krueger explained.

"Our plan is to get the right deals and the right players. We know that we're going the right way, but we also know that he needs more players and that we need more depth in our line-up.

"I believe that we are very close to a few deals and that, by the time we kick off against Liverpool, for Ronald and his staff, it is much better if we get them in tomorrow so that he can begin the process of building them and integrating them into the team and the system of play," he concluded.