Dusan Tadic will be aiming to prove he is worthy of being the next Saints star to be handed a bumper new contract.

Saints this week convinced Shane Long to become the latest star name to commit his long-term future to the club with the Republic of Ireland striker signing a new four-year deal.

Tadic is the last player whose contract is even remotely close to expiring, with his contract having two years left to run.

However, while Saints have been swift to try and tie down key men to long-term deals, Tadic may well have to prove that he has a big part in Claude Puel’s plans before being handed such a lucrative new offer.

Saints have tied down Fraser Forster, James Ward-Prowse, Steven Davis, Long and Ryan Bertrand over the past few months, all of them prepared to commit to significant contract extensions.

As of yet there has been no such deal for Tadic, with the club giving Puel the chance to assess his squad before doing further business.

Tadic has been a good signing for Saints, having played 76 times in all competitions, scoring 14 goals, during his two seasons with the club following an £11m move to St Mary’s.

However, he has been prone to ups and downs in form and suffered a few niggling injuries which have hampered his consistency to a certain extent.

There is no doubting his ability though, and when he has got a consistent run of form going he has proved one of the most dangerous creative attacking threats in the Premier League.

How he fits into Puel’s plans is yet to be determined, and it is likely to be the answer to that which decides whether Saints look to tie him down to a long-term deal.

The club know that though they want to protect the value of their assets, Tadic’s contract situation is unlikely to have real impact on his market value for some time.

He is likely to command a similar fee in January as he is now, and, in all likelihood, it would not be vastly reduced even next summer, given the club would also have had another season out of him as well.

Therefore, there is no need to rush to commit to a massive new contract with significant wages before being certain it is the correct thing for all parties.

At 29-years-old, Tadic probably has one last big contract left in his career, whether it be at Saints or a move elsewhere, and so he is likely to prove patient as well, and in the meantime continue to fight for his place in the team as he always has done since joining form FC Twente two years ago.

Saints are understood to be happy with the way their summer transfer window has gone so far.

They have moved on the big name players they expected to depart the club this summer – Victor Wanyama, Sadio Mane and Graziano Pelle - nice and early.

They also secured deals for Nathan Redmond and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in time to allow them a full pre-season with their new club.

Perhaps most importantly they have been able to use some of the transfer money they have brought in to commit increased wages for the new contracts for their big name stars.

Puel is still understood to be keen to sign a new goalkeeper and right back, both as back-up options for Forster and Cedric Soares.

Daily Echo: