Jose Fonte continues to impress for West Ham United.
In May, the consensus among many West Ham United fans was that manager Slaven Bilic had wasted close to £20 million in the previous January.
Robert Snodgrass, signed for £10 million, looked a pale imitation of Dimitri Payet, while £8 million addition Jose Fonte did not look the same, commanding centre-back as he did at Southampton.
Fast forward four months and although Snodgrass is on loan at Aston Villa, rubber-stamping his status as a waste of money, Fonte is now proving good value for his.
The Portugal defender has been a rare positive in an otherwise shocking season for West Ham, who have won only one of their first five Premier League games.
Deployed in a three-man defence, the 33-year-old, who turns 34 in December, looks far more comfortable than he had done for large spells in a West Ham shirt last season.
He impressed again in Saturday’s 0-0 draw at West Bromwich Albion – a good result if only for the fact it wasn’t another away defeat – and Bilic will surely keep that formation going forward.
The under-fire manager could and should tinker with some of his options in that system, namely not playing Javier Hernandez out wide, but it’s clear to see the defence is enjoying it.
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