Saints have yet to respond to bids for star players Adam Lallana and Luke Shaw.

The Daily Echo understands that big money offers for the pair from Liverpool and Manchester United respectively were received at St Mary’s within hours of the season ending 1-1 draw with the Red Devils.

Further to that, Tottenham’s interest in stricken star Jay Rodriguez, pictured, is understood to be genuine, with Saints bracing themselves for a possible bid for his services too.

Both Lallana and Shaw, named in Roy Hodgson’s England squad for the World Cup yesterday, face uncertain futures.

They are both under long contracts at Saints – until the summer of 2018 – but the size of the offers tabled means they will be hard to ignore.

United are believed to have offered around £25m for 18-year-old left back Shaw, while Liverpool’s bid for Lallana is thought to be more in the £20m range.

But Bournemouth will receive 25 per cent of any fee as part of the deal that was struck when Lallana joined Saints as a 12-year-old.

Saints are not keen to sell either player but know their hands could be forced if the players decide they wish to move.

They are currently weighing up their options.

The future of manager Mauricio Pochettino will also come into the equation.

As exclusively revealed in yesterday’s Daily Echo, Saints have tabled a generous new deal to try and ward off interest from Tottenham in their manager, but as yet it remains unsigned.

Pochettino said in his post-match press conference on Sunday that he was set to meet with the club yesterday, but no such meeting took place.

All in all, there is little to soothe the unease around St Mary’s.

Saints are in danger of becoming victims of their own success.

There is a feeling in the squad that to make the next step up to try and secure European football via the league will require significant investment.

And with that unlikely to be forthcoming, the offers to move up the footballing career ladder seem even more tempting.

Even Pochettino himself has conceded that it will take a huge investment of cash to realistically compete with the clubs at the top end of the table.

Though Manchester United have had a poor season by their own high standards, they are set to invest heavily in their playing squad this summer and unveil Louis van Gaal as their new manager.

That means they will probably only be without Champions League football for one season, which could tempt Shaw.

Liverpool are keen to bag Lallana as they also invest ahead of a Champions League campaign.

When asked about Lallana, Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers said: “Adam is a terrific young talent – there is always speculation about young talent.”