Manchester United is reportedly resuming their interest on Jose Fonte when the winter transfer window opens in January and rumors are out that the Southampton defender has mutual interest to play for the Red Devils.
Caught Offside reported that the 32-year-old veteran center back has been "delaying contract talks" with the Saints, who are keen on giving him a "£70,000 per-week bumper deal".
Fonte is said to be keen on joining United and its new manager Jose Mourinho in the middle of the season and so he is in "no rush to put pen-to-paper on a new contract".
"There's nothing on the table, so I'm waiting," said Fonte, as per the Mirror. "I'll see what happens. I'm just focusing on performing and we'll see what happens. We haven't agreed anything, it's just talks."
It has been well-documented all summer that Mourinho wants his Portuguese compatriot to join him in his Old Trafford revolution to partner with new signing Eric Bailly as the team's starting central defenders.
The stature and strength of both Fonte and Bailly, plus their unique combination of football IQ, youth, and experience is said to be what the Special One was aiming for.
At the moment, Mourinho has rotated Chris Smalling or Daley Blind to play alongside Bailly. Signing Fonte would certainly further crowd United's backfield, but the new head coach is known to have many tricks up his sleeves.
Fonte, whose contract with Southampton will expire in less than two years, had been with the Saints for seven seasons already, since the club's Football League One days and promotion to the Football League Championship, and finally to its eventual rise to the Premier League.
The 6-foot-2 Penafiel, Portugal native had appeared in a total of 267 games in all competitions for Southampton excluding this term and had scored 15 times mainly as a backfield player. He was acquired from fellow English top flight squad Crystal Palace in January of 2010 for a minimal fee of £1.2 million.
Manchester United dropped from the current league leaders to the sixth spot of the Premier League table after suffering two straight setbacks against Manchester City and Watford, exposing the team's leaky defense. The Red Devils bounced back with an impressive 4-1 thrashing of defending champions Leicester City at home last Saturday.
