Fonte Transfer Rumours

And how on earth do you know what was a) in his contract that he signed in Oct 2015 and b) in other players' contracts?

I have no inside information other than what ive read in the papers. The club wanted to "make Fonte one of the top earners again". Since Jose also just confirmed there has been talks I see no reason to not believe it.

Another link to the Fonte saga featured in the BBC Gossip column today:

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/1893129/manchester-united-transfer-news-jose-fonte-still-wanted-by-jose-mourinho-but-boss-must-sell-before-he-can-buy/

It does seems there's a bit more mileage in this story yet.

I definitely think we ballsed up not getting in decent CB competition this summer.

I definitely think we ballsed up not getting in decent CB competition this summer.

We already have one of the best pairs of central defenders in the Premier League, evne if some of our fans don't realize it. It's in attack that we need 'competition' i.e. another striker who can score goals.

Another link to the Fonte saga featured in the BBC Gossip column today:

 

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/1893129/manchester-united-transfer-news-jose-fonte-still-wanted-by-jose-mourinho-but-boss-must-sell-before-he-can-buy/

 

It does seems there's a bit more mileage in this story yet.

We already have one of the best pairs of central defenders in the Premier League, evne if some of our fans don't realize it. It's in attack that we need 'competition' i.e. another striker who can score goals.

This story is utter bullsheet, if Manchester United want a CB they will not be going for an ageing Jose Fonte who's best years are behind him, absolute drivel.

Perhaps, on the other hand, rather than being prejudiced against him because he is only 2 years younger than Ibrahimovic, they watched the match today or the European Championship finals, and saw what a great central defender he is, even if he is sadly underappreciated by some of our fans.

I definitely think we ballsed up not getting in decent CB competition this summer.

We're lumbered with Gardos who is currently just squad filler - he may turn out to be the long term replacement for Fonte (or if VVD does leave next summer) but seems very unlikely now.

As it stands our first choice back 4 is top drawer but any major injury to either JF or VVD and we can kiss consecutive clean sheets goodbye.

We need one more proper centre back. Maybe we will get one in January, like we acted early up front with Austin earlier this year.

We're lumbered with Gardos who is currently just squad filler - he may turn out to be the long term replacement for Fonte (or if VVD does leave next summer) but seems very unlikely now.

 

As it stands our first choice back 4 is top drawer but any major injury to either JF or VVD and we can kiss consecutive clean sheets goodbye.

 

We need one more proper centre back. Maybe we will get one in January, like we acted early up front with Austin earlier this year.

Yoshida has played in 3 of the 6 recent clean sheets.

Still don't get why everyone appears so down on him, yes a few too many fck ups but adequate cover for now. Bertrand can fill in.

This story is utter bullsheet, if Manchester United want a CB they will not be going for an ageing Jose Fonte who's best years are behind him, absolute drivel.

Except that they are going for him and Fonte himself has acknowledged it.

Except that they are going for him and Fonte himself has acknowledged it.

If they really wanted him, they'd have got him in the summer.

Yoshida has played in 3 of the 6 recent clean sheets.

 

Still don't get why everyone appears so down on him, yes a few too many fck ups but adequate cover for now. Bertrand can fill in.

Exactly this .... VVW made as many f**k ups on saturday as Maya has made all season and no ones on his case. Everyone, no matter how good they are, will make a mistake and with centre halves it's always glaringly obvious like Yoshida's back pass against United last season.

tbf I think 'adequate cover' is doing him down a little bit. If he played as regular as Jose, I don't think it would be long before he become as reliable.

This season, with more game time, he's sharper mentally and is proving himself to be a very good defender who wins headers, can tackle cleanly and is quick enough to catch your Vardy's etc. when they burst forward. He does get caught out of position sometimes but so does VVD.

Exactly this .... VVW made as many f**k ups on saturday as Maya has made all season and no ones on his case. Everyone, no matter how good they are, will make a mistake and with centre halves it's always glaringly obvious like Yoshida's back pass against United last season.

 

tbf I think 'adequate cover' is doing him down a little bit. If he played as regular as Jose, I don't think it would be long before he become as reliable.

 

This season, with more game time, he's sharper mentally and is proving himself to be a very good defender who wins headers, can tackle cleanly and is quick enough to catch your Vardy's etc. when they burst forward. He does get caught out of position sometimes but so does VVD.

Completely Agree!

Fonte has given away 2 penalties this season through debatable yet "clumsy" tackles, VVDs back pass on Saturday etc and no one is on their case half as much as Yosh.

Yosh never seems to suffer from "game rust" either, if he hasn't played for 5-8 games he still slots back in and never ever looks off the pace, he's a much better player than people give him credit for!

If they really wanted him, they'd have got him in the summer.

Exactly! It was a distraction technique prior to the game at Old Trafford, just a few mind games going on if you ask me.

Fonte starts for Portugal in their World Cup qualifier v Andorra, giving him his 18th cap, all won as a Saints player. Van Dijk also starts for Holland v Belarus, winning his 9th cap.

Exactly this .... VVW made as many f**k ups on saturday as Maya has made all season and no ones on his case. Everyone, no matter how good they are, will make a mistake and with centre halves it's always glaringly obvious like Yoshida's back pass against United last season.

 

tbf I think 'adequate cover' is doing him down a little bit. If he played as regular as Jose, I don't think it would be long before he become as reliable.

 

This season, with more game time, he's sharper mentally and is proving himself to be a very good defender who wins headers, can tackle cleanly and is quick enough to catch your Vardy's etc. when they burst forward. He does get caught out of position sometimes but so does VVD.

Actually I was on his case.

Fonte starts for Portugal in their World Cup qualifier v Andorra, giving him his 18th cap, all won as a Saints player. Van Dijk also starts for Holland v Belarus, winning his 9th cap.

Is Cedric injured? Not in the squad. He was taken off against Leicester must have been worse than it looked.

Is Cedric injured? Not in the squad. He was taken off against Leicester must have been worse than it looked.

According to his instagram, minor injury but still couldn't make the portugal squad tho.

Actually I was on his case.

on who's case ???

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

Actually I was on his case.

Ah, got you now.

Obviously I meant no one except Jonnyboy gets on VVW's case ....... just assumed every one knew that. Soz

Priceless. Just come across this post from Alpine from summer 2015 from the questions to put to Les Reed thread.

http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?54595-Les-Reed-interview-today&p=2213257#post2213257

Prize Plum

Priceless. Just come across this post from Alpine from summer 2015 from the questions to put to Les Reed thread.

http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?54595-Les-Reed-interview-today&p=2213257#post2213257

Prize Plum

I'm sure Alpine was far from being the only fan concerned about how to replace Alderweireld and in the end it took until the end of the transfer window to do it. Maybe it was unfair to criticise Les Reed because for all I know, the black box system might supply a constantly refreshed list of potential replacements for unexpected gaps appearing anywhere in the squad. But on the other hand it might not, and either way I imagine Les and his team had to work very hard. As I recall, the club thought it had Alderweireld's assurance that he would return to Southampton and he let them down. I can imagine. Les saying to himself, very much what Alpine said, along the lines of "What the hell are we going to do now?" But he and his people got on with doing it and in hindsight it may have worked out better than expected. Toby is still an extremely good CB and we did very well to find a player of equivalent quality. I can't see the point over a year later, of criticising another Saints' fan over an opinion that it was perfectly OK to hold at the time. although it does show dedication to trawl through so many posts to find one to pick on!

Interesting discussion about VVD and Yoshida. The reason that VVD didn't get as much stick as Yoshida is because he is a much better player. He has been quality for us and one poor game doesn't mean that he is a poor player. Yoshida on the other hand has made a many of errors over many games. The argument that he would be as good as Fonte if he played as many games doesn't work for me. He hasn't played as many games because he is not as good as Fonte. There are plenty of Premiership players who don't get as much game time but don't make the errors that Yoshida does when he plays. It is not just down to him being "rusty." He is prone to make errors and that is why he will never be a no.1 CH in a Premiership team. If VVD made the same amount of errors over a period of time we would have the same discussions about him. It is nothing personal about Yoshi, who seems like a really decent guy.

Priceless. Just come across this post from Alpine from summer 2015 from the questions to put to Les Reed thread.

 

http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?54595-Les-Reed-interview-today&p=2213257#post2213257

 

Prize Plum

The Prize Plum award really should go to people who dig out posts from years ago in a vain attempt to mock people. Even some of the main proponents of this sort of infantile behaviour on here seem to have desisted somewhat of late. Alpine had a point of view shared by many at the time. What has been gained by digging out this post?

I'm sure Alpine was far from being the only fan concerned about how to replace Alderweireld and in the end it took until the end of the transfer window to do it. Maybe it was unfair to criticise Les Reed because for all I know, the black box system might supply a constantly refreshed list of potential replacements for unexpected gaps appearing anywhere in the squad. But on the other hand it might not, and either way I imagine Les and his team had to work very hard. As I recall, the club thought it had Alderweireld's assurance that he would return to Southampton and he let them down. I can imagine. Les saying to himself, very much what Alpine said, along the lines of "What the hell are we going to do now?" But he and his people got on with doing it and in hindsight it may have worked out better than expected. Toby is still an extremely good CB and we did very well to find a player of equivalent quality. I can't see the point over a year later, of criticising another Saints' fan over an opinion that it was perfectly OK to hold at the time. although it does show dedication to trawl through so many posts to find one to pick on!

I assure you Professor, I really didn't trawl through pages and pages of posts the with the purpose of finding a stick to beat Alpine with. The page was offered up by chance, as a result of an unrelated search and curiosity prompted me to scroll through it.

What struck me about this post was not particularly it's content, more it's familiar theme ie. press the panic button far too early, only to be proved wrong. .

Now Alpine seems like an intelligent man to me but I find it amusing that a year on, despite the benefit of hindsight, he would make the ill considered decision to do exactly the same thing ..... and here we are again, a couple of months in and still no crisis.

This was the sentiment I was trying to express in my post. Did it seem at the time, a good idea to be posting at 12.30am after the pub ? ... yes. Was calling Alpine a prize plum a bit flippant ? .... probably. Did the subject need to be brought up at all ? ... probably not. Why did I post it on the Jose Fonte thread ? .... I have no idea whatsoever.

I'll go and take a long hard look at myself.

You're new here, so...

1. He does it every year since the internet was invented

2. He isn't alone

3. They all whine like little girls when somebody calls them out

Well, Portugal won last night with Jose Fonte and not Cedric as he is injured.

It took a while for all the players to adjust to Puels new formation. Latecomers to the team had less chance to adapt to this new regime. It appears more settled now. IMO the latecomers were Fonte and Soares who were away on international duty throughout the summer.

Maybe all this Fonte bashing should be put to bed, he is our Captain and should be respected as such.

True Portugal, but respect is a two way thing.

Portugal are now 3 - 0 up against the Faroe Islands. Fonte is on the pitch, no Cedric due to injury. Let's hope he is OK for Sunday as we don't want Bertrand and Cedric out. They are just running out for the 2nd half.

Portugal are now 3 - 0 up against the Faroe Islands. Fonte is on the pitch, no Cedric due to injury. Let's hope he is OK for Sunday as we don't want Bertrand and Cedric out. They are just running out for the 2nd half.

Jose Fonte, the clean sheet king. 19 games for Portugal and 15 clean sheets in them. Also around 100 clean sheets in his games for Saints. In some ways it is a shame that he hasn't had spell at a top club because there are still some Saints fans who don't appreciate just how good he is and feel that the fact he hasn't gone to Man United yet must mean he's not a top player. He's not a flashy individualistic type of player but does what he needs to do for the team, which is why his teams keep so many clean sheets: a true Saints legend who'd certainly be the captain my All-time Best Saints XI.

Jose Fonte, the clean sheet king. 19 games for Portugal and 15 clean sheets in them. Also around 100 clean sheets in his games for Saints. In some ways it is a shame that he hasn't had spell at a top club because there are still some Saints fans who don't appreciate just how good he is and feel that the fact he hasn't gone to Man United yet must mean he's not a top player. He's not a flashy individualistic type of player but does what he needs to do for the team, which is why his teams keep so many clean sheets: a true Saints legend who'd certainly be the captain my All-time Best Saints XI.

They could play with one CB and keep a clean sheet against Gibraltar.

What sort of Saints fan are you hoping he went to a bigger club?

Edit- actually was Belgium I think not Portugal. Andorra and Faroes were last two clean sheets. #NoEasyGamesAtThisLevel

They could play with one CB and keep a clean sheet against Gibraltar.

What sort of Saints fan are you hoping he went to a bigger club?

As a fan of a feeder club, we should feel happy and grateful for any of our players to go to a bigger club. This is where our success and sustainability for the future lie.

So I've now seen a few other posters who have also noted the fact that Jose hasn't played a minute of Europa league football, I'm pretty sure he's off in January and is not playing to prevent him being cup tied ! Could there be another reason ?

So I've now seen a few other posters who have also noted the fact that Jose hasn't played a minute of Europa league football, I'm pretty sure he's off in January and is not playing to prevent him being cup tied ! Could there be another reason ?

Ha Ha .... the way United are playing, they won't be involved in the knockout stages!!

So I've now seen a few other posters who have also noted the fact that Jose hasn't played a minute of Europa league football, I'm pretty sure he's off in January and is not playing to prevent him being cup tied ! Could there be another reason ?

Only other thing I can think of is Yoshi has been promised the EL matches, or they are easing VVD into a captaincy role, with a view to him taking over next season?

So I've now seen a few other posters who have also noted the fact that Jose hasn't played a minute of Europa league football, I'm pretty sure he's off in January and is not playing to prevent him being cup tied ! Could there be another reason ?

wouldn't look too much into it, I just think it's part of Puel's rotation system. Yoshida hasn't done anything to deserve to be dropped either.

Honestly can't see us selling in January either. When was the last time we sold a first team player in Jan?

if he was to go, I wouldn't be too bothered as I think it's time we start looking for a replacement.

So I've now seen a few other posters who have also noted the fact that Jose hasn't played a minute of Europa league football, I'm pretty sure he's off in January and is not playing to prevent him being cup tied ! Could there be another reason ?

Yes, we rest players for the competition but we only have 3 decent centre backs. Because he is older than VVD he has been rested. He also played in a tournament in the summer, which VVD didn't.

If we were determined he wouldn't play to avoid being cup-tied then he wouldn't have been on the bench last night.

And does anyone good enough to sign him really give a toss about the Europa League? It's basically Man U, in this country, that would be impacted either way and I doubt they are planning their transfer strategy around the knock-out stages of the Europa League to be honest.

Likewise, if he was off to Sporting or Benfica or whatnot, I doubt they would be too bothered.

Only other thing I can think of is Yoshi has been promised the EL matches, or they are easing VVD into a captaincy role, with a view to him taking over next season?

Yes clearly - definitely part of the summer contract with VVD. Why should he be here when a £40m bid comes in if he isn't even the captain.

I would guess that this is the reason for the Fonte Utd summer gossip. Now it starts to make sense, would rather he went next summer than Jan, by a long way.

Would be pretty epic if he lifted the JPT, league cup and the euros with Portugal - what an advertising piece to future players.

Then he's free.

Good to see the speculation theory thread still open and going strong

Good to see the speculation theory thread still open and going strong

Thankfully you've responded and rescued this thread pal.

Thankfully you've responded and rescued this thread pal.

Glad to help pal

So I've now seen a few other posters who have also noted the fact that Jose hasn't played a minute of Europa league football, I'm pretty sure he's off in January and is not playing to prevent him being cup tied ! Could there be another reason ?

Yes..there are a multitude of reasons before we arrive at a January departure..but perhaps the boring one is that Puel uses something called a squad, the main beneficiaries of which are Fonte and Yoshida.

So no one else finds it strange that after his journey with us our team captain hasn't had the honour of leading us out in an Europe league game , let alone not get a minute?

So no one else finds it strange that after his journey with us our team captain hasn't had the honour of leading us out in an Europe league game , let alone not get a minute?

Not really. Puel is rotating the squad and Yoshida has been one of our best players in the EL. Puel seems a meritocratic manager which is good for overall unity and has no reason to change things.

Exactly, if Yoshi had been poor I expect Fonte would be straight in.

So no one else finds it strange that after his journey with us our team captain hasn't had the honour of leading us out in an Europe league game , let alone not get a minute?

He led us out in Europe last season didn't he?

he's also in his early 30s and doubt he could do two games per week.

I'm sure if we progressed to the latter stages of the europa then he'd be back in there with vvd.

Not to rock the boat here, but might it also be a chance for Van Dijk to wear the armband in, erm, preparation?

He led us out in Europe last season didn't he?

But that was before Euro 2016!

But that was before Euro 2016!

So?

If anything that means he's likely to give less of a **** about being rested for some Europa League group games.