JOSE Fonte has revealed that he’s still “waiting” for an improved contract offer from Saints.

But the defender insists any question marks over his future aren’t a distraction and is focused on another “great season” at St Mary’s.

The club were said to have been optimistic that their captain would accept a significant pay rise on his current deal that expires in 2018, but the 32-year-old claims there has been little progress over his future despite talks.

“There’s nothing on the table, so I’m waiting,” Fonte said. “I’ll see what happens.

“I’m just focusing on performing above all and we’ll see what happens.

“We haven’t agreed anything, so it’s just talks.”

It is believed that Fonte had been offered a pay rise during the summer to bring him in line with the club's top earners.

However, there were no plans to offer Fonte an extension on his current deal, with Saints aware that their skipper would be a few months off his 35th birthday and nearing the end of his playing career by the time his contract ends in the summer of 2018. 

And, although the club were hopeful that Fonte, who attracted interest from Manchester United in the transfer window, would take the pay increase, it seems a solution is yet to be found. 

When pressed on the issue, he said: “There were some talks but there hasn’t been for a while. Like I said, I’m focusing on my job and we’ll see what happens in the future.

“But I’m not concerned about that, just concerned about performing and doing well for my club.”

Fonte was also keen to quash some rumours that  suggested he struggled to refocus on club duties after winning Euro 2016 with Portugal.

“No, never,” he said when asked if he had struggled to focus after an incredible summer. “You read stuff in the press and you believe it if you want. Listen, I am focused on my job and performing on the pitch – it’s as simple as that. As for the rest, there’s nothing else to say.”

The central defender did however accept that he may have needed more rest time during the summer.

“It was difficult because, I had no rest,” he said. “I only had two/three weeks holiday, so it was difficult to come to the team but now I’m feeling better and better and I just want to have a great season again.”

The skipper is now on his fifth manager of his St Mary’s career and believes that there is still a lot of room for improvement under the latest, Claude Puel, even after four straight wins.

Setting standards high, Fonte said: “I still think we have a lot to improve on.

“We can certainly improve by not putting ourselves in difficult situations.

“We need to kill the game earlier, manage the game better and don’t give opportunities to opponents, so still things to improve massively.”

Fonte has worked under Alan Pardew, Nigel Adkins, Mauricio Pochettino, Ronald Koeman and now Puel at Saints.

“There’s a different mentality, a different philosophy but a lot of quality and we’re just trying to adapt as quick as possible,” he said about Puel’s management.

Fonte wasn’t ever concerned about the transition to another boss, even after a slow start to the season.

“No, like anything it takes to get to know him (Puel) so and to adapt to his philosophy, so it’s going to take a little bit more but we’re giving our best,” he said.

After four straight victories in all competitions, Saints are aiming to build further on their momentum when they travel to Israel to face Hapoel Beer Sheva in the Europa League on Thursday and then to Premier League champions Leicester City on Sunday.

“We want to keep the momentum going that’s the main thing,” said Fonte. “There’s a lot of things to improve and we are going to keep this going for as long as we can.”