Fonte Set To Move To West Ham United Friday, 20th Jan 2017 10:25 Jose Fonte is set to move to London and join West Ham United with rumours circulating that he will complete a medical and formalities today. The Jose Fonte saga is set to reach its sad ending today with the Portugese defender joining West Ham almost exactly to the day seven years ago that he made his Saints debut in a 1-1 draw at Millwall in League One. Back then we were in our lowest league position in half a century and Fonte played a major part in our rise back up through the leagues, one of his earliest games for Saints was at Wembley in the JPT final and it should have been a fitting twilight to his career that he returned to Wembley again in the League Cup, sadly Saints chances of doing that have diminished due to the situation that has arose since his return from the Euro Championships in the summer. Something had changed in the player on his return, perhaps this was mainly due to the influence of his new agent Jorge Mendes, the super agent who also represents Jose Mourinho, immediately rumours appeared in the press about Fonte going to Old Trafford, make of that what you will, but it's fairly obvious that these were not started by Southampton Football Club. Agents make the big part of their money from transferring their clients, the writing was on the wall once Fonte changed agents. The saddest thing though is that Fonte was on his way into being a club legend, the word should not be bandied about lightly and in modern times it is used less and less with players moving clubs so often that nowadays they rarely stay at one club more than a couple of seasons. But after 7 years, 260 league appearances and 288 in total with 15 goals, not to mention the success we have enjoyed during that time, on his retirement which we all assumed would be at St Mary's with a testimonial, Fonte should have been acclaimed as a club legend. That will now not happen and he will leave with the Saints support having a bad taste in it's mouth about the whole situation. Publicly he has not been too bad, there have been none of the public shows of desperation for a move that Dejan Lovren or Adam Lallana showed, but behind the scenes the story seems to be not so smooth. Up until Xmas the club seemed to be handling Fonte with kid gloves, perhaps in the hope that he might decide to sign a new deal and stay, but after Fonte went public and told the media that the club hadn't offered him a new deal and in some respects almost accused them of lying things changed between player and club. What angered Saints most wasn't his words but the timing of them, they came only a couple of days before the team were due to play Happoel Be'er Sheva in what was a do or die match, the club felt that this was deliberately timed to unsettle the squad and certainly there were those in the dressing room who felt that. From that point on a line had been crossed and there was perhaps no return, there now seemed to clearly be a rift between not only Fonte and the club, but with the player and manager, Claude Puel did not seem to have faith in his Captain to do a professional job for Saints whilst speculation was rife and the window opened, however it should be noted that he had no such reservations back in August when Fonte although on the bench for the opening Premier League game was in the starting line up for the remaining two games until the transfer window shut. Like any disagreement there are always two sides to a story and I have spoken to those who perhaps feel Fonte is not entirely to blame and those who think he is, in any situation there are as i say always two sides and usually the truth is somewhere in between. I will say though that Jose Fonte was linked to Manchester United before he had even kicked a ball for Saints, this was the original cause of the rift and without the media leaks and subsequent speculation this story might have had a happier ending at least for Saints fans. The reality though is that this could actually be a good deal for the club if they can replace Fonte with a quality defender, the transfer fee seems to be £8 million up front with a further £2 million in add ons based on appearances etc, that for a 33 year old is good money, but only as long as we get in a quality replacement. From this point Saints seem to have a knack of finding quality in the centre of defence, so you would hope that this can continue. But the saddest thing is that it is ending this way, Jose Fonte has been a brilliant servant to Southampton Football Club and in return we have turned him from a run of the mill player at Crystal Palace where at 26 he was steady but not exactly making headlines hence that we were able to get him for £800k, a bargain it now transpires and sell him for 10 times that. This has been a mutually beneficial relationship,and although his name will not bring the vitriol that some of our ex players do to Saints fans lips, it has sullied his memory and he will not be as beloved as some of our legends. Fonte should be considered one of those legends, certainly the track record and requirements are in place, but the last six months mean that it cannot be in the eyes of many. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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