Heard from a v.good source that he’s got Gentleman Agreement to go next window if big clubs are Still Interest. Not sure if it meant January or next Summer tho, my source was non-clear on that.
I happen to agree with you, but if it’s the case that he actually wanted to leave, then that seems to imply that Fonte himself wouldn’t, and that he saw United as a great opportunity that he wanted to snap up - so I’m still quite impressed that he was respectful enough to keep quiet.
Having said that, if he plays this season like a player who’s had his head turned then my point of view might well change.
I can’t possibly see anyone coming in for him next season though. The only reason United would want him is to avoid having to play their first-teamers away to the likes of Zorya Luhansk on a Thursday night with a match at home to Spurs on the Sunday. He might have got the odd League Cup/easy FA Cup game as well I suppose…and perhaps the odd Ropey League knock-out match if United had dusted off the first leg 3 or 4-0 and had another meaningless fixture to fulfil.
Anyway; point is that if Fonte wanted to go, he wanted to go. And the fact that (so far) he’s been decent about our preventing him (if that really is the case) get the thumbs-up from me.
aaaaaw … morgan … now I’m sad (we need a ‘bottom lip’ emoticon)
If Morgan doesn’t get back on track it must be one of the worst cases of a manager destroying a player’s career.
Somehow they have managed to coach all the quality out of him and remove him from the international team.
Astonishing.
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We need Coxford_Lou to get her finger out.
Failing that, we need an arty type to do some new emoticons.
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Astonishing’s the word !!
Mind you, I always thought Arsenal would have been a much better fit for him… ol’ tight arse Wenger definitely missed a trick there.
Is that a chicken Mcnugget dipping sauce Bearsy?
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Sourced by the Automatic News Thread
Sourced from Daily Echo article
Fonte “waiting” for improved Southampton contract offer
Show/hide article…
JOSE Fonte has revealed that he’s still “waiting” for an improved contract offer from Saints.
But the defender insists any question marks over his future aren’t a distraction and is focused on another “great season” at St Mary’s.
The club were said to have been optimistic that their captain would accept a significant pay rise on his current deal that expires in 2018, but the 32-year-old claims there has been little progress over his future despite talks.
“There’s nothing on the table, so I’m waiting,” Fonte said. “I’ll see what happens.
“I’m just focusing on performing above all and we’ll see what happens.
“We haven’t agreed anything, so it’s just talks.”
It is believed that Fonte had been offered a pay rise during the summer to bring him in line with the club’s top earners.
However, there were no plans to offer Fonte an extension on his current deal, with Saints aware that their skipper would be a few months off his 35th birthday and nearing the end of his playing career by the time his contract ends in the summer of 2018.
And, although the club were hopeful that Fonte, who attracted interest from Manchester United in the transfer window, would take the pay increase, it seems a solution is yet to be found.
When pressed on the issue, he said: “There were some talks but there hasn’t been for a while. Like I said, I’m focusing on my job and we’ll see what happens in the future.
“But I’m not concerned about that, just concerned about performing and doing well for my club.”
Fonte was also keen to quash some rumours that suggested he struggled to refocus on club duties after winning Euro 2016 with Portugal.
“No, never,” he said when asked if he had struggled to focus after an incredible summer. “You read stuff in the press and you believe it if you want. Listen, I am focused on my job and performing on the pitch – it’s as simple as that. As for the rest, there’s nothing else to say.”
The central defender did however accept that he may have needed more rest time during the summer.
“It was difficult because, I had no rest,” he said. “I only had two/three weeks holiday, so it was difficult to come to the team but now I’m feeling better and better and I just want to have a great season again.”
The skipper is now on his fifth manager of his St Mary’s career and believes that there is still a lot of room for improvement under the latest, Claude Puel, even after four straight wins.
Setting standards high, Fonte said: “I still think we have a lot to improve on.
“We can certainly improve by not putting ourselves in difficult situations.
“We need to kill the game earlier, manage the game better and don’t give opportunities to opponents, so still things to improve massively.”
Fonte has worked under Alan Pardew, Nigel Adkins, Mauricio Pochettino, Ronald Koeman and now Puel at Saints.
“There’s a different mentality, a different philosophy but a lot of quality and we’re just trying to adapt as quick as possible,” he said about Puel’s management.
Fonte wasn’t ever concerned about the transition to another boss, even after a slow start to the season.
“No, like anything it takes to get to know him (Puel) so and to adapt to his philosophy, so it’s going to take a little bit more but we’re giving our best,” he said.
After four straight victories in all competitions, Saints are aiming to build further on their momentum when they travel to Israel to face Hapoel Beer Sheva in the Europa League on Thursday and then to Premier League champions Leicester City on Sunday.
“We want to keep the momentum going that’s the main thing,” said Fonte. “There’s a lot of things to improve and we are going to keep this going for as long as we can.”
Go to the original article…
…inconsequentially devised by Optimus trousers…beta v1.9 - now with EXTRA pictures!
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I’d be surprised if we started offering wagecap-busting pay rises to players approaching 35, no matter who they are.
To be honest I just assumed that he’d got his payrise behind the scenes and the club had decided not to announce it as there wasn’t an extension and due to the transfer fuss and deafening silence from Fonte.
Clearly not.
Whatever they do they need to sort it soon otherwise the rumours will start up all over again as January approaches. On a personal note I’m not sure I can be fucked with another load of paper talk over this issue.
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when he stops making mistakes he can have his pay rise.
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Maybe his agent is trying to hold up the agreement to get a higher pay rise - or hinting to the market that Fonte will be available for a big wodge of cash in January?
or maybe the club have decided ‘fuck him’, withdrawn his offer and told him he can go **when ** we’ve got the right replacement.
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BBC gossip on the telly-box (source the Sun), “…Mourinho has been told he must sell a player before moving for Southampton’s £10m-rated defender Jose Fonte,32”
£10m?!
That will be the BBC trying to sell him for us.
Are they new agents have they been investigated by the Telegraph and found to be wanting?
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Well, the BBC are already the press office for Munure, Citeh, Liverhampton and the “big” London clubs, so becoming an agent would be a logical move…but let’s wait for the Telegraph exposé
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