Southampton chairman Ralph Krueger has paid tribute to Morgan Schneiderlin over his handling of his transfer situation.
The France midfielder was blocked from joining Tottenham over the summer.
Krueger told the Daily Echo: "When we made the decision as a club (not to sell Schneiderlin), I have to say that there were conversations afterwards, but it never got uncomfortable.
"It never left the realm of being respectful, and I respect Morgan even more today than I did when this all started, just because of the end process, the decisions we made, and we gave him time.
"I think I said right from the start that I was never upset about his immediate reaction, knowing that we're all human beings and that can happen, and over time he's showed so much character and his reaction has been on the pitch to be the best possible player he can be and to accept the decision.
"It's a great example for an approach where a club and a player maybe have differences, but always deal eye-to-eye. We communicated very openly with each other."
