FORMER Saints manager Dave Merrington has admitted it would be "tragic" if Gareth Bale was sold this month.

The ex-Dell boss believes the 17-year-old is an "absolute gem" and should be coveted by the elite of English football.

Merrington, who watches Saints every week as a Radio Solent summariser, said: "Bale is easily the best attacking left back I have seen in this division.

"He's got good feet, he's got a little shimmy that can take him past players, but the best thing about him is his quality of delivery into the box.

"He is an absolute gem. Just because he's already scored five direct free-kicks in half a season he deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Beckham and Le Tissier.

"If someone asked me to write a scouting report on Southampton there would one line which would say do NOT give away free-kicks anywhere near the edge of your own penalty area because if you do you are inviting trouble'.

"If I was Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Rafael Benitez or Glenn Roeder I would be looking to sign Gareth Bale.

"He is playing with a maturity way beyond his age. And to take the free-kicks that he has shows guts and courage for someone so young.

"In the last few games Bale has presented more of an attacking threat down the left than Skacel, and Skacel is supposed to be the attacking player.

"Skacel does have quality, I'd just like to see it shown more regularly."

Merrington, boss at Saints for the 1995/96 campaign and the club's youth coach in the late 1980s, added: "It would be tragic for the club and the supporters if Gareth Bale was sold this month.

"The club would have to ask themselves what the academy is there for?

"Is it to develop their own players for the first team, or to develop players who can be quickly sold.

"If it's the latter, then the academy just becomes a business.

"At the least we should be trying to keep the players who come through the academy until they are 21 or 22, not selling them when they're 16 or 17."

Full interview in today's Daily Echo