Newcastle United target Luis Boa Morte has flown out with Fulham on their week-long trip to America.
And this is obviously going to make it difficult to get the Portuguese international into a black- and-white shirt in the immediate future.
Fulham boss Chris Coleman knows that Boa Morte wants to join United, but he has to do what he thinks is best for his own club.
United, of course, will be doing some flying of their own tomorrow, and Graeme Souness will jet out to Spain for Wednesday's Intertoto Cup semi-final first leg with Deportivo La Coruna feeling frustrated to say the least that he seems no closer to signing his top two targets, Boa Morte and Nicolas Anelka.
And Souness knows that he is running out of time, with United's Premiership campaign due to start against Arsenal at Highbury in just 20 days' time.
There was talk over the weekend that United had offered £2m plus their Senegalese international Amdy Faye for Boa Morte.
But this would not interest Fulham because Faye failed a medical at Craven Cottage before joining Portsmouth from Auxerre, and in any case Freddy Shepherd insists that United's bid for Boa Morte is straight cash.
Meanwhile, Lee Clark, who was Boa Morte's skipper at Craven Cottage last year, reported for training with United today.
The Geordie boy is still without a club after leaving Fulham at the end of last season and Souness has invited him to train with United.
At the moment there are no plans for a contract offer but the Chronicle suggested on Saturday that Clark would make an ideal captain of the Reserves to instil some Geordie pride into their young players, and United seem to like this idea. But if Clark was to be given a player's contract - even on a monthly basis - he would bust a gut to try and force his way into the first team.
*Reports over the weekend suggested that Portsmouth were trying to add Lee Bowyer to their contingent of former United players - Lomana LuaLua, Andy O'Brien and Laurent Robert - at Fratton Park but Freddy Shepherd says he has heard nothing from the south coast club.
