Fonte Joins West Ham - £8m Official

Feels like we have lowered our glass ceiling again. A guess it's good we are still only selling to clubs above us.......

No other club of our size and stature has been able to consistently recruit excellent raw young talent like we have, one of the side effects is that eventually they will move to bigger clubs, the alternative is to have has beens and journeymen and be just another boring premier league club like Burnley, Bournemouth, Palace, Sunderland etc. Not sure why people don't understand this...?

Genuine question; do you work for Les? You seem to have zero passion and you jump on this board to defend the club at every opportunity. Also those clubs you mentioned, are we not a lot closer to being like them now than we were 12 months ago? Or are we still kicking on?

I think it was Sky that paid the wages to be honest..........

However, the glory days are beginning to come to and end. DT reported in the week that subscriptions to Sky are down 13% over the last 12 months and 25% since 2010. They put this down to the Live Streaming on PC's and he Cody Boxes which are available now.

It is indeed, grown men proclaiming to be "Gutted" WTF is that all about? He was great in a saints shirt, right up until he won the Euros, then it seems he turned into a bit of a c**t, let's see how good he looks without VVD, Toby Alderweireld or Lovren next to him or Morgan, Vic or Romeu in front of him.

If my experience of JF is anything to go by, he was a c**t long before the Euros. Right up there with Kevin Pietersen.

Really am not bothered about this.

Jose when he played conceded penalties (Sunderland/Arsenal) or gave the ball away to conceed a goal this season, think yoshi would be hammered for if he did it.

Got 8m and the wages off the books for a defender who is probably currently at the same level or maybe slightly below yoshi.

Yoshi suddenly becomes a top preimum league player on par with, if not better than, Jose. Remember he was considered as a league one player a few months ago. ...

Odd that we've strengthened one of the teams near us but decent deal on paper. Yet another window where we've sold before we've brought anyone in, really doesn't lift the atmosphere of gloom around the club at the moment. Lots for Les to do in the next week but won't hold my breath for him to deliver what he promised.

Yoshi suddenly becomes a top preimum league player on par with, if not better than, Jose. Remember he was considered as a league one player a few months ago. ...

2 points

Jose was never a top premier league player otheriwse he would of gone to a top club (he has benefited from have a defensive system and some of the best CB partners in the EPL next to him)

No one with a brain has considered Yoshi a league 1 player based on his performances this season in Europe and League

A good and old friend died just before Xmas aged 44. I found that a very sad day. I found his funeral just as sad.

 

Tomorrow, I will wake up, get the kids' breakfast ready and carry on as normal. I'll hopefully do that on Sunday, before picking up my old man. That might be a sad day, because the dementia he has might mean that it is his last game at Saints. I'll come back from the game feeling happy/ambivalent/dejected do the normal things in the afternoon, and go to bed knowing life's OK. I'll wake up on Monday morning, get the kids' breakfast ready, get them ready for school, go to work etc etc.

Top post! Sums it up so well!

Glad that Osvaldo battered him now

Shame for the last of the league 1 team to depart under a cloud but clearly he wanted to go and 8 million is a shed load of cash for s player with maybe 1-2 seasons left in him. Good luck to him at West Ham I'll be interested to see who arrived to replace him.

Fonte knows his best days are behind him, so handed in the transfer request to avoid dragging us down with him.

Then joined an immediate Premier League rival, safe in the knowledge that he could only weaken them. This will be confirmed when he hauls down one of our boys for a penalty in a few weeks time.

# Legend

Playing Football is a means for someone to earn a living. It's not like a marriage between a player and supporter! I remember thinking Saints would never be the same when Terry Paine left to go to Hereford, when Hughie finished, when Chivers went to Spurs, when Big Ron left, etc etc, you get my drift. Good old Saints carry on as if nothing happened and so it should. Tomorrow, we will have something else to think about.

Players come and go, the days of the Matt leTiss have long gone. Now, it is a case of move on for an extra £1 million and who can blame them.

Thanks JF, wish you well.

coincidence?

Southampton defender Maya Yoshida stars on the cover of the club’s official matchday magazine for Sunday’s visit of Leicester City in the Premier League.

https://southamptonfc.com/news/2017-01-19/saints-leicester-city-edition-now-available?utm_source=Southampton%20FC&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1677093_PRE%20-%20Non-Attendees%20-%20Leicester%20-%2020.01&utm_content=Saints%20preview%20read%20more&dm_i=2HKL,ZY1X,2DYRB9,2VRC1,1

coincidence?

 

Southampton defender Maya Yoshida stars on the cover of the club’s official matchday magazine for Sunday’s visit of Leicester City in the Premier League.

 

https://southamptonfc.com/news/2017-01-19/saints-leicester-city-edition-now-available?utm_source=Southampton%20FC&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1677093_PRE%20-%20Non-Attendees%20-%20Leicester%20-%2020.01&utm_content=Saints%20preview%20read%20more&dm_i=2HKL,ZY1X,2DYRB9,2VRC1,1

Not at all. And there's a good chance Maya will be given a huge boost to confidence knowing he's now first choice after VVD, and playing with VVD every game can only make him better.

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Just to let you two know... Jordan Turnbull left Saints on 15th August 2016. He isn't on loan, he joined Coventry City on a permanent deal.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/37089943

I haven't ruled out buying him back yet.

Good luck to Fonte. Shame he could not have left moving until the end of the season.

Surely, the club will get in a replacement and not pocket the money.

I hear what people say about the summer etc but I would have thought that Saints had replacements in mind as they knew this was coming.

BTW....we desperately need that new striker now !

However, the glory days are beginning to come to and end. DT reported in the week that subscriptions to Sky are down 13% over the last 12 months and 25% since 2010. They put this down to the Live Streaming on PC's and he Cody Boxes which are available now.

Wrong-it's too expensive and people are adverse to the money going to line already rich players to extravagant levels..

I wonder if we'll ever find out what went on. The media black out in the club since he returned from the Euro's was very odd, you'd expect a club to make a big deal out of a returning European Champion...but we got nothing, very little mention of him all season via the club media. Cedric got his interview though.

The lack of game time in the EL was also fishy as hell. Although his absence didn't have a direct impact on us failing to qualify, it seems incredibly odd to not play him in a single minute of any of the 6 games. I think he was only on the bench for one of them. My general assumption is that Fonte arrived back in the summer and the club were ready to give him the big fanfare, but he came back demanding the world and turned into a little too big for his shoes. The lack of EL appearances is probably just us wanting to maximize his sale should a big club come in for him, not that the club would ever admit that!

£9m for him is a good deal financially, but it's only a good deal for the football club if we reinvest and go again - let's not go backwards by relying on Yoshida as our main CB. The last thing we need to be doing in a season whereby we don't score goals is to weaken our defence. Let's see what the club have up their sleeves in the next week or so....

Genuine question; do you work for Les? You seem to have zero passion and you jump on this board to defend the club at every opportunity. Also those clubs you mentioned, are we not a lot closer to being like them now than we were 12 months ago? Or are we still kicking on?

All clubs have dips in form, Saints weren't expecting to start the season without Koeman and short sightedly put too much faith in Long & JayRod, it happens. But hey, you crack on and pîss your mattress over our first dodgy season in years....sigh!

VVD:s tweet suggest the rumors about a rift between him and fonte was not true:

https://twitter.com/VirgilvDijk/status/822556347824799744/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Thank you champ for everything you have done for me and also for the club, was a pleasure to play with you! #saintslegend #champ #gutted

All clubs have dips in form, Saints weren't expecting to start the season without Koeman and short sightedly put too much faith in Long & JayRod, it happens. But hey, you crack on and pîss your mattress over our first dodgy season in years....sigh!

Part of the problem is that the club are almost boastful about how our preparation is second to none and how we have all the due diligence done in advance to deal with any situation. If you set your stall out like that you are bound to attract criticism when it unravels.

For me, this is a return to the mid table Saints of old which, given I've had a season ticket for the last 20 years, doesn't bother me especially but it is a slightly painful realisation given what we've been spoiled with over recent seasons. I just lament a golden opportunity missed last summer when I thought that we would kick on from a position of extreme strength having worked extremely hard to give ourselves that opportunity.

I wonder if we'll ever find out what went on. The media black out in the club since he returned from the Euro's was very odd, you'd expect a club to make a big deal out of a returning European Champion...but we got nothing, very little mention of him all season via the club media. Cedric got his interview though.

 

The lack of game time in the EL was also fishy as hell. Although his absence didn't have a direct impact on us failing to qualify, it seems incredibly odd to not play him in a single minute of any of the 6 games. I think he was only on the bench for one of them. My general assumption is that Fonte arrived back in the summer and the club were ready to give him the big fanfare, but he came back demanding the world and turned into a little too big for his shoes. The lack of EL appearances is probably just us wanting to maximize his sale should a big club come in for him, not that the club would ever admit that!

 

£9m for him is a good deal financially, but it's only a good deal for the football club if we reinvest and go again - let's not go backwards by relying on Yoshida as our main CB. The last thing we need to be doing in a season whereby we don't score goals is to weaken our defence. Let's see what the club have up their sleeves in the next week or so....

I imagine the club would have made more of it but the clubs side of the story is he came straight back from the euros and told them he wanted to leave. I imagine at that point the club had very little inclination to be supportive or celebratory towards him.

I'm really not that upset about the club moving on a 33 year old player, who made it clear he didn't want to be here, for a decent fee I but I do expect the club to be sorting out a decent replacement.

I think you are being a bit unfair on Yoshida. This season there hasn't been anything to split him and Fonte Yoshida has defiantly improved this season. (I still want another good CB brought in though)

VVD:s tweet suggest the rumors about a rift between him and fonte was not true:

 

https://twitter.com/VirgilvDijk/status/822556347824799744/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Thank you champ for everything you have done for me and also for the club, was a pleasure to play with you! #saintslegend #champ #gutted ����

Well he's not going to say, glad you f**ked you big head. The team is just like other workplaces, you get on with some, you argue with each other but in the end you all work towards the same goal.

We sell our captain for an absolute pittance, and Trump becomes President. What a day.

And Donald and Melania danced to the sounds of the new Southampton anthem 'My way'. Maybe he's the new billionaire investor?

We bought him for peanuts, got the best years out of him and have now sold him ( a disgruntled influence at the club) for a decent wedge. Result!!

He came back from the success of the Euros to find the best players and the manager had left once again. He had got through this twice before but realised that with time not on his side, he didn't want to rebuild again.

Benfica (his boyhood club) was the dream, so much so that he even bought a house in Portugal, whilst Benfica were keen and made an offer, Saints refused to sell him without having a replacement in place, evidently Saints had a centre back replacement lined up, but were unable to conclude the deal before the transfer window closed.

Fonte felt let down as he felt he deserved his move for the loyalty that he has shown the club. Disappointed he was still under the impression that Saints would let him go to Benfica in January, he asked not to be played in European games unless it was essential.

January window was looming, Benfica would not pay the price that Saints wanted, Fonte felt Saints should sell him at a reduced price to Benfica due to loyalty etc, Saints refused, next came the transfer request as he felt he'd been let down, still thinking it would be Benfica, they pulled out of the deal, West Ham and Palace were the only clubs willing to pay the price Saints wanted, he chose West Ham

Goes with my thanks...been amazing for us in our rise and he and the club have been great for each other. I'd like him to have finished his career here but if that's not to be then £8 million at his age is good both ways. I think he has stepped backwards but then maybe I would. Good luck Jose...I hope your form and fitness continue to decline! :-)

He came back from the success of the Euros to find the best players and the manager had left once again. He had got through this twice before but realised that with time not on his side, he didn't want to rebuild again.

 

Benfica (his boyhood club) was the dream, so much so that he even bought a house in Portugal, whilst Benfica were keen and made an offer, Saints refused to sell him without having a replacement in place, evidently Saints had a centre back replacement lined up, but were unable to conclude the deal before the transfer window closed.

Fonte felt let down as he felt he deserved his move for the loyalty that he has shown the club. Disappointed he was still under the impression that Saints would let him go to Benfica in January, he asked not to be played in European games unless it was essential.

January window was looming, Benfica would not pay the price that Saints wanted, Fonte felt Saints should sell him at a reduced price to Benfica due to loyalty etc, Saints refused, next came the transfer request as he felt he'd been let down, still thinking it would be Benfica, they pulled out of the deal, West Ham and Palace were the only clubs willing to pay the price Saints wanted, he chose West Ham

If that's what someone has told you, fair enough.

The club came out well out of that, absolutely no reason to flog a player cheap just because that's what the player wants.

And if he was that desperate to play for Benfica all he needed to do was run his contract down a bit longer, until the summer or next January, keep giving his all for Saints and eventually his price would come down and he gets his dream move.

The fact he has now locked himself into a long term contract with West Ham, suggests the Benfica thing is just a nice cover story, much like how people came on here trying to pretend the only reason Lallana joined Liverpool was because Les Reed didn't return his phone call. Ill-constructed not-my-fault player spin.

Wow, a Portuguese player nearing the end of his career buys a house in Portugal. Now who would have thought that!!?

Not at all. And there's a good chance Maya will be given a huge boost to confidence knowing he's now first choice after VVD, and playing with VVD every game can only make him better.

 

 

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Bang on the money

Considering Yoshida has been messed about a bit (made to play LB and RB at times. Never been given a regular run at CB either) he's done a good job for us. And has been improving and getting more and more solid

Selling Fonte could be great for us. Gets rid of trouble and gives Yoshida the chance to fully flourish. Yoshida has already looked better than Fonte this season and is five years younger. This could be the making of Yoshida and get rid of squad unrest

Glad that Osvaldo battered him now

Didn't Pardew roger his misses? Remember that rumour going round just after he was sacked.

Yoshi suddenly becomes a top preimum league player on par with, if not better than, Jose. Remember he was considered as a league one player a few months ago. ...

Hardly... He's been a solid back up defender for us since he joined and anyone who's said he's a league 1 defender isn't the sharpest tool in the shed.

Hardly... He's been a solid back up defender for us since he joined and anyone who's said he's a league 1 defender isn't the sharpest tool in the shed.

HK is right though, some of the more 'special' posters here actually said that ...

We bought him for peanuts, got the best years out of him and have now sold him ( a disgruntled influence at the club) for a decent wedge. Result!!

Result!! Especially as yoshida's been enjoying an extended run in the team, the player you've consistently mocked and dismissed as a liability, if not utter garbage.

SOG #bundleofcontradictons

We bought him for peanuts, got the best years out of him and have now sold him ( a disgruntled influence at the club) for a decent wedge. Result!!

You know that for sure do you?

It's all about the money, money, money ....mercenaries, the lot of em

Not that bothered at losing him, but selling our captain to a direct competitor is an embarrassment.

Where is the replacement? Anybody lined up, or do we limp on until the summer?

Not that bothered at losing him, but selling our captain to a direct competitor is an embarrassment.

Where is the replacement? Anybody lined up, or do we limp on until the summer?

Yoshida is being championed by many.

we already have the replacement.

VVD:s tweet suggest the rumors about a rift between him and fonte was not true:

 

https://twitter.com/VirgilvDijk/status/822556347824799744/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Thank you champ for everything you have done for me and also for the club, was a pleasure to play with you! #saintslegend #champ #gutted

I thought the gutted bit was yet more smoothing of VVD himself leaving, with Fonte leaving another excuse

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He was probably fed up with 7 years of his song mispronouncing his surname.

I thought the gutted bit was yet more smoothing of VVD himself leaving, with Fonte leaving another excuse

 

 

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Or he's just gutted at one of his best mates leaving his place of work. Don't read more into it than there is.

if only he had waited one more day he may well have got his move to Liverpool

We'll never know exactly what happened, but it sure seems strange that since 2014 few players are able to leave us in good terms, without handing in requests, posting weird tweets, getting into fights or agitating the board....

We'll never know exactly what happened, but it sure seems strange that since 2014 few players are able to leave us in good terms, without handing in requests, posting weird tweets, getting into fights or agitating the board....

Which rather blows some peoples theory that the board can't wait to sell our best players

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No other club of our size and stature has been able to consistently recruit excellent raw young talent like we have, one of the side effects is that eventually they will move to bigger clubs, the alternative is to have has beens and journeymen and be just another boring premier league club like Burnley, Bournemouth, Palace, Sunderland etc. Not sure why people don't understand this...?

;-) but now tell us what you really think!

Genuine question; do you work for Les? You seem to have zero passion and you jump on this board to defend the club at every opportunity. Also those clubs you mentioned, are we not a lot closer to being like them now than we were 12 months ago? Or are we still kicking on?

.....erh, did you not get that he was being ironic?

The season turns tomorrow. We will crush them......

4-0 Longx2, JayRod, and Cedric.

Part of the problem is that the club are almost boastful about how our preparation is second to none and how we have all the due diligence done in advance to deal with any situation. If you set your stall out like that you are bound to attract criticism when it unravels.

 

For me, this is a return to the mid table Saints of old which, given I've had a season ticket for the last 20 years, doesn't bother me especially but it is a slightly painful realisation given what we've been spoiled with over recent seasons. I just lament a golden opportunity missed last summer when I thought that we would kick on from a position of extreme strength having worked extremely hard to give ourselves that opportunity.

Really?

You thought we'd do better than last season, even though it was the weakest top division in living memory and we finished above Chelsea and Liverpool?

We were pretty average last season and some of the revisionism about the football then compared to now is bewildering.

You know that for sure do you?

yes