Top player, top committment, honest professional too rare in a game of get rich kids.
Thank you Jose a true role model for young players in the game.
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hmmm, a true role model would have twatted Osvaldo after buttgate. Fonte could be held responsible for the lily livered, light weight fairies we have playing for us right now.
That’ll do for me.
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I’ll start by admitting that I’m pissed and on a train when writing this so I could be wrong regarding that post and key times/context etc.
However, it’s all well and good being totally committed to the cause blah blah blah fucking blah when the transfer window is closed and a move away is an actual impossibility. Did he send this message before the transfer window closed??
No he didn’t. Sorry Jose, dick move. I love you for what you’ve done for our club but please don’t insult my intelligence as a functioning human being.
Sign your new deal, get your massive pay rise and we can all fist pump the air and get on with our mediocre lives. 
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The fan in me says Yay! Told you so.
The cynic says why not sometime in the last 3 weeks before the International break
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Indeed, it was too quiet when assurance was needed.
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Can we have a list of the people that voted that he would leave please
Give it until January or the next summer transfer silly season and I suspect he might change his mind - if enough money is on the table.
I wouldn’t blame him at this stage of his career
Wouldn’t you be offski if you were in a similar position?
One of my pet peeves with football is this notion of cashing in at the end of a career. And people justifying it. They are retiring from a sport, they aren’t dying! They are still physically and mentally able to work beyond the age of 35. The fact is - they just don’t want to. Which I get, but doesn’t mean I have to like it. Admittedly there is an element of envy to my opinion, but that’s normal I guess. Relative deprivation I believe it’s called!
They just want to drag out the celebrity lifestyle of luxury and excess. Hardly noble.
If they lived more responsibly throughout their careers then they could easily budget and squirrel money away for rainy days and kids trust funds. The problem is that would get in the way of having the latest Bentley, Range Rover and Ferrari.
Theres management, coaching, punditry or even becoming an agent like Le Tiss and Franny - if you want to stay within the game.
Beyond that there’s plenty of other occupations that they could do, should they so wish.
So rightly or wrongly I don’t really sympathise with their desires to cash in at the end of their careers. My understanding is that a testimonial match was designed for that purpose. A true loyalty bonus.
Football is broken in my view.
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I can’t argue with any this Simon but was it really money that was the temptation? He already had a new contract and massive payrise on offer from us and whilst the Rooneys etc get £250k pw deals, their squad players certainly don’t.
For a journeyman player finding success so late, the opportunity to play for Man Utd is a big deal. They’re the biggest club in the world (alongside Real Madrid) and it’s easy to see how he might consider it a perfect swansong to his career. I think this was probably more of a lure than just the money.
Having said that, it’s not happening now (if it ever was) and it’s great to see his instagram message, even if it’s a bit overdue.
#josefonte #saintsfc #wemarchon
Originally posted by @Sfcsim
Great post from Fonte - Legend!
I like this because it is very real. He does not say he was not looking to leave, but he has not and is not sulking about it and will give his all. This does not mean he will not look to leave in the future either, but he is here. As this was posted safely after the transfer window was closed. Like others have said this is good enough for me.
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My guess is that there was a degree of mooted interest from Arsenal and United - who kept an eye on him in the event that either the deal for Mustafi fell through or if Mourinho felt he needed another backup centre-half. I can’t imagine that news wouldn’t travel fast (especially as it’s in the interest of both the club that’s potentially about to make an offer as well as the target player) and I expect Fonte just wanted to keep his cards close to his chest in case a formal offer came in (which would have almost certainly been high enough for us to accept).
Its fair enough really. United and Arsenal are always going to be a bigger draw than little old Saints and that’s just the simple reality. I just can’t possibly blame any of our players wanting to leave for either club if an offer came in.
No you can’t blame any of them for wanting to progress their careers, but also you shouldn’t buy into a belated message of loyalty from someone who was waiting for a better offer.
Nothing against Jose, he’s been great for us, but the moment for shirt kissing was in the eye of the storm, not now.
Let’s just draw a veil over this rather unsavoury few weeks and as the phrase goes, March On Together.
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I read, from a reputable source, that man Utd offered £8m for him. So this wasn’t just some"degree of interest". It was a firm offer and he clearly wanted to go.
What was the source Fats? I ask only because up until now the word from both camps is that no offer was made.
Fonte has the same agent as Mourinho, and it would be in no way in his interest to create a story that Utd wanted to buy his client and negotiate a better deal.
Yup if I was a Untd supporter I would feel…well…USED. 
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Well if that’s the case then I think I respect him even more for keeping quiet and not throwing his toys out of the pram given that we were denying him his dream move.
He’s contracted until the summer of 2018 when, should he leave, he’ll be aged 34/35 for the 18/19 season. I can’t for the life of me see anyone big coming in for him then, so this was essentially his big chance to play for for a footballing superpower.
I firmly believe that a move to man Utd would have destroyed and ended his career. He’s not good enough for them, the fans wouldn’t have taken to him and he would barely have played. As much as we are all grateful to have him and for him to have played such a key role in our resurgence, it works both ways. He owes us for making him what he is today as much as we owe him
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I agree Fats. I think he would have gone the way of Morgan