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 !