By Chris Sudlow JAAP Stam's cards were marked at United the moment he put pen to paper and brought dressing rooms secrets out into the open.

And shaky performances in the Charity Shield and the opening home match against Fulham did little to help his cause.

Despite denials from Old Trafford that his departure was for any reason other than on-the-field tactics, it hardly seems sensible to sell your best defender after a couple of bad games.

The timing of his departure to Lazio in a shock £15m deal on Monday might have suprised many, but not perhaps his substitute, veteran French international Laurent Blanc.

He revealed on MUTV on Thursday night after signing on a free transfer from Inter Milan: "Twelve days ago I heard they (United) were interested again."

This dates back to the weekend of the Fulham game, where Stam came in for some heavy criticism, and was subsequently dropped for the away game at Blackburn the following Wednesday.

So it looks to this observer as though Sir Alex had made his mind up to off-load Stam almost a fortnight ago, when the reverberations from comments in his controversial book were still hitting the headlines.

After eight years at Montpellier, Blanc left for Napoli in 1991 and has since served Nimes, St Etienne, Auxerre, where he won the French Championnat in 1996, Barcelona, Marseille and Inter. Fergie has tried to sign him at least three times previously.

Blanc said: "Manchester are capable of winning every competition they are engaged in and above all, they play in the Champions League.

"This really counted in my decision as I've never played in that competition. I have only one year left to play, I had to hurry."

This last comment will please many who have attacked the ageing foreign mercenaries who have arrived on these shores, then scuttled away with a huge bag of cash over their shoulders.

Blanc is here for the dosh, of course . . . but at least he wants to take some medals home with him as well.

NEXT FIVE: Saturday, Sept 8: Everton (H); Wednesday, Sept 12: Olympiakos (A, Champions League, ITV, 7.45pm); Saturday, Sept 15: Newcastle (A); Tuesday, Sept 18: Lille (H, ITV Sport Select, 7.45pm); Saturday, Sept 22: Ipswich (H).