With rumours rife that Jose Fonte is talking to Manchester United about a move, most football fans would ask why he would want to move to Old Trafford.

Jose Fonte's afternoon on the bench against Watford has fueled speculation that the Portugese defender is on his way to Manchester United, the reality of why he was on the bench though was much simpler, Claude Puel probably did not want to play both Cedric and Fonte in the same back four as they were not match sharp and the need for Cedric to play right back was greater than Fonte to play in the centre with the only other options being either Jeremy Pied, who himself had less pre season game time than Cedric or the untried Valery.

Fonte was not needed to come off the bench given the way the game went, so there was nothing suspicious that he did not get on the pitch at all.

But why would he want to leave Saints anyway, here he would be virtually guaranteed to be first choice whereas at Old Trafford he would be a one season stop gap for Jose Mourinho and to be blunt as most football pundits have suggested, he would not be first choice ahead of any of the other options that Mourinho has, including Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Daley Blind and Eric Bailly, the latter being man of the match in the 3-1 at Bournemouth this afternoon.

So if Fonte was to go, the reality is that at 33 in December he would be effectively ending his top flight career as a first team regular.

Why would he want to do that ?

The only answer would be money and this is where the plot thickens in that Fonte changed his agent last season to Jorge Mendes the Portugese football agent, by a rearkabe coincidence Mendes is also the agent and very close friend of United's manager Jose Mourinho.

Now I would not be one to suggest that anything underhand goes on in football, far from it, I'm sure everything is done above board, but it would be in the interest financially of all three of them for Fonte to move to Old Trafford and the chances of the money being offered being above what Fonte could usually expect at his age perhaps increased given the circumstances.

So on the face of it there is only one reason for this move to take place for Jose Fonte and that is money and perhaps the opportunity of a medal as a squad member.

I do not blame Fonte for this if this is his desire, after all he has only earned big money in footballers terms in the past four or five years, this is his last big chance for a pay day and although I would say he would be better being first choice at St Mary's than a squad player at Old Trafford, that may not be his way of thinking.

This will be a crucial week, one thing is for sure, Saints will not let him go unless they have signed a quality replacement, indeed from this viewpoint this could be similar to when Rickie Lambert departed, it was a convenient way for a club legend to go with his reputation intact.

The first real indication of the situation may be on Friday, Saints would not sell Fonte and let him play against us in his first game, so it will be interesting to see if he is in our team on Friday night.

I like most Saints fans would be sorry to see Fonte go, I would much rather see him stay and hopefully prove me wrong again by playing out of his skin for another season, however things have to move on in football and like the transfer of Rickie Lambert when one door closes another one opens.

Photo: Action Images

SanMarco added 21:33 - Aug 14 So "cash in" it is then - the thousands and thousands a week he gets playing for us is clearly not enough and the club of course never stands in anyone's way. I've a feeling we are in for a difficult season - still at least 5 ex-Saints scored at Arsenal today.
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richsaints added 22:15 - Aug 14 This is the third straight nightmare summer and it just goes on and on . I must be missing something how is it WBA a club with a smaller ground and I assume finances have held on to their only asset in his final contracted year with minimal fuss . Saints on the other hand regardless of contracts or anything else just bend over and take it who is the spineless dick who is wrecking our club .

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codge added 22:51 - Aug 14 The one obvious thing l see is we are so short in his position as it is.Yoshida is not the answer and if that is to be then l believe we are in for a long season.We have needed an extra player in that position for a long time but we seem to bring in so many midfielders l wonder if it is so obvious to us why can't they see it.
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abingdonsaint added 23:04 - Aug 14 Continuous improvement for seven seasons is an interesting interpretation of 'wrecking'.......
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Jesus_02 added 23:06 - Aug 14 Enjoying the video's from outside the stadium Nick. Any news on a Fonte replacement yet? Please let us know at your earliest convenience :)
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abingdonsaint added 23:06 - Aug 14 PS.......WBA doing far better than us of course!!
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welhamdowed added 23:13 - Aug 14 #wesellon
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richsaints added 23:29 - Aug 14 With all due respect guys losing three or four every summer is surely not sustainable and at least very risky add to that RKs unexpected departure.As for the WBA thing I only meant that their chairman is in charge of that particular situation that's all.
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Jesus_02 added 23:43 - Aug 14 8m? seriously. Gentlemans agreement or no, if we accept 8m for our captain and Euro winner we have no self respect at all
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BoondockSaint added 01:07 - Aug 15 Why would he not? As posted a couple of weeks ago when this rumour started: He gets a well-deserved big payday at the end of his career, and he gets to play for trophies. As for ManU, he knows they are not going to start him, they want a solid fill-in player, a leader on and off the field, someone to mentor the youngsters, and be a liaison between Jose and the locker room. But maybe after sticking with the team for so long, he might just reckon, if the board doesn't care about this team as much as he does, he might as well go to a big team while he can. If we get relegated, he won't have the same chance. Sad to see him go (if he does), he has been the heart and soul of the team climbing all the way up from the lower leagues, so as with Rickie, i'll wish him well.

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Aussie added 02:52 - Aug 15 If an adequate replacement was sorted out, I'd be ok with this happening. It wouldn't be ideal but like the Lambert deal it would be nice to say goodbye to him properly. After all he has done for the club he deserves this move if he wants it. He would most likely still be there next season and United will probably be in the Champion's League then - for a guy that was in League 1 not long ago that'd be pretty cool for him. And as for his squad place at United - I think people are underestimating how much he would play. United fans were surprised when they signed Bailly because they have quite a few talented CBs coming through but no experienced on-field leader. Their fans seem to think that Blind shouldn't be a CB any longer than necessary, Jones is crap and Bailly and Smalling together would be a bit risky with them both being youngish, rash and not great on the ball. Fonte isn't amazing on the ball but he is used to playing out from the back at Saints. However, I'm not all that convinced this is true because none of their fans seem to have even noticed the rumour.

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SaintBrock added 14:01 - Aug 15 I am really delighted to see that at last our fans are beginning to face up to the truth about the motives of Liebherr, Rogers & Reed. There have been too many apologists for them for too long on these forums. There is all the evidence in the world you need now to see what has been going on. Ask yourself this was Cortese really the villain in the piece as our media team has painted or would his vision for the club have served fans better? How is it that Toon fans had the savvy to suss out their owner's motives and stage many demonstrations against him and his policies and forced change but we have not? After all we are the same fans who helped get rid of Lowe so why should we put up with all the shenanigans going on at this club in silence. Time to stand against it?

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simmo400 added 20:12 - Aug 15 Saints fans it's the same old same old. Don't tell me anyone is surprised. MONEY TALKS. Stepping stone Saints. I don't include Fonte in that but all of the others. Model club got to SFC get yourself in the limelight wait for the big pay day. Will happen every year. All talk of steady progress is to sucker in season ticket holders. SAINTS ARE A BUISNESS FIRST AND FOREMOST.

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