Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea are both trying to profit from the uncertainty surrounding the future of Southampton manager Mauricio Pochettino by making approaches for highly-rated defender Luke Shaw.

The 17 year old has made 24 appearances in the league this season and has quickly shown that despite his young age, he has the ability and temperament to deal with the pressure of playing in the Premier League.

Shaw's displays have not gone unnoticed by England Under-21 manager Stauart Pearce who named the left-back in his 23-man squad for the European Championships in Israel this summer, despite the youngster never having been capped at this level.

Luke Shaw
Luke Shaw in action against Chelsea. [Reuters]

While Southampton have particularly impressed since Pochettino was installed as manager there is some uncertainly as to whether the Argentinian will remain as manager after his comments that he would leave the club if chairman Nicole Cortese departed.

"My future in Southampton has to be with Nicola," he told the Independent. "The reality is we share a common passion and long-term plan for this club. It would not make much sense for me to continue at this club if he is not here.

"I do not understand Southampton without Nicola in the future. Nicola has created everything we see at Southampton now."

Cortese is said to be considering leaving the club because the Liiebherr Trust, who own Southampton, are reportedly unwilling to provide the finances needed to push the club forward.

With a sense of uncertainty surrounding the club, the Times reports that Tottenham and Chelsea see it as the perfect time to try and secure the services of Shaw for next season.

Southampton have produced a number of excellent players from their youth academy but have traditionally struggled to keep hold of the most exciting talents. Arsenal and Tottenham have both previously profited with the likes of Gareth Bale, Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain all now residing in north London.

However, all three left the South Coast club when they were playing outside of the Premier League and Southampton will be desperate to convince Shaw that it is best for him to continue developing at St. Marys.

Tottenham may believe that they could offer Shaw regular first team football as current left-back Benoit Assou-Ekotto has endured a difficult season because of injury and a loss of form.

While Spurs could perhaps convince Shaw that he would get opportunities, it may not be such an easy task for Chelsea who have England's first choice left-back in Ashley Cole and adequate cover in Ryan Bertrand.

Southampton will hope that they can resolve the future of Cortese and Pochettino as quickly as possible as this would go a long way to reassuring the players that the club will move forward next season.