Southampton defender Jose Fonte is reportedly on the verge of joining West Ham United but the move just doesn’t add up.
The Saints have been rocked after the European Championship winner recently handed in a transfer request.
Saints director of football Les Reed told BBC Radio Solent the 33-year-old has made it clear he wants a transfer, having rejected opportunities to extend his contract, which still has 18 months to run.
Fonte, who has regularly been linked with a move to Manchester United since his compatriot and namesake Jose Mourinho took over at Old Trafford in the summer – as reported by the likes of The Sun – has made well over 250 appearances for Southampton since arriving from Crystal Palace in 2010.
Southampton’s Jose Fonte arrives for training
Fonte took to social media last month to set the record straight on his situation.
“Just to set the record straight I did not reject a new contract,” he wrote on Instagram.
“In fact, I have been informed by Southampton that they are not offering me a new contract.”
He is now being strongly linked with a move to the Hammers, as reported by the Mirror.
But while he would undoubtedly strengthen an inconsistent Hammers rearguard, the potential transfer does raise a number of questions.
Crystal Palace’s James Tomkins celebrates scoring
1) Why sell homegrown Hammer James Tomkins in the summer?
If West Ham felt comfortable with their options in defence why did they elect to sell homegrown Hammer James Tomkins in the summer. While Fonte is a better old round defender and more experienced, the pair are not poles apart in terms of ability and Tomkins has more years ahead of him.
2) Do the Hammers need another 33-year-old centre back?
Slaven Bilic already has a veteran 33-year-old centre back in the shape of fans’ favourite James Collins. Although Bilic prefers a system deploying three centre backs, the 3-0 win over Crystal Palace last time out only came about because of the change of formation to a more traditional 4-4-2. Does that mean Collins could be on his way out of the club should Fonte arrive?
West Ham’s Reece Oxford on the substitutes bench
3) What about the two Reeces?
When Tomkins was allowed to leave one of the reasons for his sale – aside from the fact he wanted guaranteed first team football – was that West Ham had two highly-rated young defenders on the verge of stepping up to the first team in the shape of Reece Oxford and Reece Burke. While Burke is currently injured, Oxford returned to the first team squad after injury last week and Fonte’s signing would surely impede their progress. Oxford in particular is keen to kick on in the first team setup after signing a long term contract earlier this season on the promise he would be given a chance by Bilic.
Michail Antonio is one of the success stories of West Ham’s transfer policy
4) What happened to the new transfer policy?
Co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold made a very deliberate change to the club’s transfer policy in recent seasons, targeting younger, hungry players under the age of 27. It has paid off with the likes of Aaron Cresswell, Cheikhou Kouyate, Michail Antonio, Manuel Lanzini, Edimilson Fernandes, Pedro Obiang and in the most part Diafra Sakho proving real success stories. The owners said they would always consider exceptional players above that age, which was the case for the likes of wantaway Dimitri Payet. While you could argue Fonte is an exceptional defender – and indeed a European Championship winner – is he really the right kind of signing for West Ham at this stage of the club’s development having moved to their new 60,000 seater Olympic Stadium home to compete with the Premier League elite?
5) Why West Ham?
The Hammers must clearly be offering Fonte a better and longer contract than he is currently on with the Saints. But given reported interest from Old Trafford would the Portuguese want to swap one midtable side for another in what is probably the last significant move of his career?
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