AMBITIOUS Saints are pushing forward with their plans for the future by making lucrative new contract offers to another three of their top stars.

Dusan Tadic and Cedric Soares are both being offered extended deals to tie them to the club for the long-term.

Meanwhile, Jose Fonte is being rewarded for his commitment and leadership by being handed a pay rise to bring him back in line with the club’s top earners.

It comes as the centre-back is linked with a move away in the national papers.

It all adds up to another bold move from Saints, who have pursued a policy of getting their top talent tied down to long-term deals this summer to allow them to plan with confidence for the future.

Tadic was the last player whose contract was running into dangerous territory and at 27 of an age Saints would want to act early, with just under two years left to run on the deal he signed when he joined from FC Twente.

The Serbian midfielder has played 76 times for Saints in two seasons since his £10.9m move to St Mary’s.

Soares is perhaps slightly more of a surprise, given that he only signed a four-year contract when he joined the club a year ago.

However, the right back’s performances in Portugal’s Euro 2016 winning team have inevitably raised his profile and interest in him and Saints are determined to ensure there is no room for him to leave.

Claude Puel is understood to have been impressed by what he has seen from a distance from Soares and has earmarked him as major part of his plans going forward as he looks to attacking full backs to offer width to the side.

Fonte has started to become synonymous with Saints, and with Kelvin Davis having retired is the only player in the squad to have risen through League One all the way to sixth place in the Premier League.

He is a vital figure to the squad, both on and off the pitch, and his captaincy has been key to the club’s success.

The 32-year-old, who along with Soares won Euro 2016 with Portugal this summer, still has another two years left on his current contract, but with significant pay rises being handed around this summer the club did not want him to feel in any way undervalued.

They have, therefore, moved to ensure he is among the club’s top earners, a position his importance to Saints certainly merits.

Saints have already agreed new long-term deals with Shane Long, Ryan Bertrand, Fraser Forster, Steven Davis and James Ward-Prowse this summer.