Mauricio Pochettino has given France boss Didier Deschamps an open invitation to come and watch Morgan Schneiderlin first-hand.

With all the recent headlines surrounding Saints’ England players and their World Cup chances, it was somewhat overlooked that Schneiderlin was again snubbed by his country.

Pochettino appears baffled by the decision and has tried to address the problem on behalf of his player ahead of this summer’s World Cup.

He said: “Until the final list is given he has his chances.

“I would actually invite the France national manager to come and see him direct as I think he has the skill and the quality to play with the France side and hopefully that will happen. I would be very pleased for him if that did happen.”

It was one of the four England World Cup hopefuls that failed to get on the pitch in the recent friendly with Denmark, Jay Rodriguez, that scored the winner at Crystal Palace and Pochettino backed him for a spot in Brazil.

“He has the talent, he has the skill to go with the English national side and play for the English national side,” said the Saints boss.

“The call-up to the English national side by Roy Hodgson of Jay Rodriguez was deserved and to actually win your place you need to deserve your place to be going to the tournament.

“To be scoring goals as he did here he is definitely increasing his chances.”

He added: “The goal showed what Jay Rodriguez is made of.

“It showed his quality, it showed his speed, it showed how great he is, it showed his technique and it showed it was fully deserved that he got the England call-up.”

Pochettino was asked whether the motivation of potential World Cup places could benefit his side in a season where there is little left to play for.

“I disagree,” he insisted. “The extra motivation that they have is playing for Southampton, that’s the most important thing for them.

“The goal of the World Cup is another goal. They know that the most important thing for them is to defend the interests of Southampton.

“If they are able to do that then they will increase their chances to go to the World Cup.”