When Paulo Fonseca told the world that he still wanted Chris Smalling and he was still in touch with the player, everyone pricked their ears up.
It came after about a week of silence from the Italian media regarding the deal, asĀ it felt like the Serie A side had given up on the Manchester United defender following their acquisition of Marash Kumbulla from Verona.
However, the Portuguese managerās words renewed everything, as he made clear he still wanted those above to make a push for the centre-back.
Theyāve tried, but the nature of Fonsecaās outburst, if you will, has not gone down well at Old Trafford.
Thatās according to Corriere dello Sport, who explain āthe public announcement of frequent contacts between Fonseca and a member of Manchester hanāt been received well by those in charge at the Red Devils, who are less and less prepared to go down to a compromise with the giallorossiā.
Corriere explain Roma are still working on the deal, but the Englishman āisnāt a priorityā, and the feeling is ātheyāll talk about it in the last few days of the window after having sold a series of playersā.
Those are Juan Jesus and Federico Fazio, but they are proving somewhat difficult to offload for the time being.