The latest media reports of the saga of Jose Fonte to Old Trafford have taken another twist today as it is claimed that United will wait till deadline day.

Many experienced pundits when looking at the possibility of Jose Fonte joining Manchester United have dismissed it as nothing more than Fonte's agent Jorge Mendes stirring up the media, trading in a few favours with his close friend Jose Mourhino and in doing so perhaps making a bit more money for his client and himself in the process.

That is because no sensible person can perhaps understand why otherwise Mourinho would be so keen to spend so much on a central defender who will turn 33 in December when he can have the pick of the crop, with players much younger.

Certainly the Old Trafford hierarchy seem to feel this way judging by stories coming out of Manchester yesterday.

Now the tale has taken another turn, with the media claiming that Manchester United will wait till deadline day before they swoop, this looks like it is coming out of the Mendes PR machine again and is aimed at firing more warning shots across Saints bows.

Firstly it is telling Saints, perhaps inadvertently that if Mourinho comes in late then they will be in trouble, that is quite correct, the club are in a little quandary here, they want to keep Fonte as has been shown by the new contract offer, however they have to cover their own backs and they will be worried that if they go out and make a major central defensive signing then this will unsettle Fonte as to be blunt as good as he has been, he is still not as vital as Virgil Van Dijk to the Saints defence and he would be the one at risk should a new man come in.

It is putting pressure on Saints to do something, at the moment to the outsider at least they have sat on their hands, they are short in the centre of defence anyway, yet they are not being linked with any central defenders it is all midfield players.

Most Saints fans would tell you the areas of concern to them are up front and in the centre of defence we are packed with midfielders, the talk on message boards is one of worry that the club seem to be ignoring the real areas.

Mendes's latest press leak is aimed at putting pressure on Saints, he is probably concerned that the Saints tactic is not to buy a central defender and therefore they will not let Fonte go under any circumstances he nows he is screwed here, Fonte is under a two year contract and he knows that Saints would not be so silly to let Fonte go without an adequate replacement and with apologies to Yoshida he is not that man.

The Portugese agent is also trying to buy Mourinho a little time to try and clear the decks at Old Trafford, although he might struggle here trying to offload high wage earners, there seems to be some friction between manager and club board here, Mendes is taking a chance putting that information out in the media and to be blunt does not bode well for Mourinho's long term future at the club.

The question is whether this financial constriction of sell before you buy has just been sprung on him or he has chosen to ignore it.

But fro a Sainys perspective they now have to be decisive, they need to be firm as they were two years ago with Morgan Schneiderlin and last summer with Wanyama, they need to tell both player and agent that they will not be selling this transfer window and stick to their guns.

It does remain a fact though that sometimes you get an offer that you have to take for a player, if Saints could get in a truly quality central defender as they did last summer with Van Dijk, then it would be in their interest to offload Fonte, that would not make them a selling club, but a canny one !

Photo: Action Images

perazi added 10:03 - Aug 24 Nick, your last paragraph rings true for me - Fonte is showing that when these sort of offers come along he is no more "loyal" than the other "defectors" Lovren, Lallana, Wanyama et al. Let's face it , the only players who don't move to bigger Clubs and accept improved contracts at Saints are those who have just joined or are unlikely to attract big Club offers for various reasons....Davis, Prowse etc. Fonte has 18 months of Prem Football left in him at the most; he wants to go and secure the last big payday; when you take the nostalgia of what a great servant Fonte has been for the Club out of the equation, selling him to Man U for 8 - 12 million would be outstanding business, provided a replacement has been identified.

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SaintPaulVW added 10:18 - Aug 24 He's nearing the end of his career, not adversely to him having one big payday given the player he's been but not now. Regardless, of this given his age, we should certainly be in the market for a top quality replacement. A player that could swap between defensive midfielder and CB would be an absolute godsend at the moment.
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kingolaf added 10:57 - Aug 24 Am I missing something here? They haven't even put a bid in yet. Do they expect Les to give them a call offering Fonte? Tell them to f*ck off.
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pintsizedsaint added 11:05 - Aug 24 The reporting on this in the media has been nothing short of ridiculous! Still smacks of agent talk to me. However nothing is certain anymore. I just think it would be one step too far for SFC to let go unless they bring in a decent CB now (bearing in mind the impending transfer window close). Yet all the talk is about bringing in a winger and/or a striker. As such I suspect Fonte will remain a Saints player come September

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highfield49 added 11:37 - Aug 24 Clearly none of us actually know what the outcome of this rumour will be, the only outcome I don't think any of us want to see is Fonte going to Manure, no replacement signed and Yoshi lining up alongside VVD. That said I'd be happy if we sign a proven central defender to integrate into a starting role and tell Fonte he can go on his bench warming, personal coaching role to Bailly in January.

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sidsaint added 13:28 - Aug 24 This is a joke. If we wait until the final day and we have not strengthened they will have to offer top defender in exchange, your call Mourinho.
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SanMarco added 16:23 - Aug 24 My guess is that this is a face-saver for Mourinho. Even Les won't sell our first choice centre back with no replacement on deadline day (I hope I don't regret saying that). So Jose stays and the other Jose blames it on us.
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AmericanSaint added 08:07 - Aug 25 If Saints sell Fonte for less than 15M they are idiots. Ashley Williams just went to Everton for that price and Fonte is better in almost every statistic and 1 year younger. These agents are playing a game that messes with players minds and tells them they can all go play at MU, MCFC, AFC or other big clubs, when the reality is quite the opposite. Look at Rojo at MU, he is now going to sit on his butt and not play since no other team wants to pay his massive wages. Saints need to sign 2 players before the deadline and not let anyone out on loan or sale.

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