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.