Jose Fonte

He's better than Rojo / Jones.

He's captain of Southampton. The Saints aren't some relegation fodder, they have had a pretty good defence in the last few seasons.
He's probably a better leader at the back than ANYONE we currently have.

Take out Terry from Chelsea in 14/15 replace with Zouma.
Chelsea don't win the league. Thats not because Zoumas a bad player hes young & inexperienced. Cahill is prone to mistakes, without Terry that whole defence falls apart.
Towards the end of that season they were very reliant on the defence being a rock.


Didn't Portugal win the Euros? Didn't they have a very good defence? weird eh, Fonte was at the back for them.
 
Raees said:
Didn't realise he played in the Euro 2016 final. Kept three clean sheets in 4 knockout games.
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He was fantastic in the Euros, pretty much as soon as he came in for I think it was Carvalho Portugal looked a miles better side. Him and Pepe were very solid and either of them (not like we'd get Pepe) would improve us a fair bit.
 
Would be a great signing. Physically imposing, not too uncomfortable on the ball, a leader and value for money. To the people complaining about his age, thats the reason why we're interested in him, already have bright young prospects we need lads like Fonte. Most of the top defences in Europe have a 30+ CB, Terry, Godin, Pepe, Ramos, Lahm etc
 
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Android1974 said:
I think he's fourth (Bailly, Smalling, Blind…), maximum. With the likes of these in front of him, I can see him only as a security backup for when the others are unavailable. That's why I don't feel United really needs him. But perhaps Mourinho doesn't really trust Rojo enough. Or maybe it's just pushing for a Mendes deal.
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Don't see why he'd want to make the switch then... to be be 4th choice at 32 years old is not a sensible career decision.
 
Giant Midget said:
Don't see why he'd want to make the switch then... to be be 4th choice at 32 years old is not a sensible career decision.
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He wouldn't be fourth choice he's really good, he'd be at least second depending on how Smalling and Bailly do. I imagine if we get him Mourinho's thinking would be Bailly has a lot to learn so he wants someone experienced in to play with Smalling.
 
I'm quite surprised some seem to rate Fonte so highly. Is it because of Euros? Because he wasn't that impressive for me in the league. He was ok I guess but nothing to shout about.
 
I know next to nothing about him. What side does he prefer to play on? Was he at Saints with Luke Shaw?
 
I am so sure that if he came here he would only be a backup option. He is not better than Smalling or Bailly (from the little I've seen of Bailly).
 
manutddjw said:
He's a solid defender but I don't see the point. I'd rather give the minutes to TFM who looks a player than to a stop gap. Our squad is solid enough where even if TFM or Bailly for that matter have an adjusting period, it shouldn't make that big of a deal. No different to how Fergie could get away with throwing in youth or average players because he'd have at least 6 players in his starting XI that could do the business and win the game for us.
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Funny how you don't see the point right after stating it, he will bring depth and experience because frankly speaking Jones and Rojo are merely making up the numbers. We have four competitions which we hope to go deep in and TFM will certainly get his chances and by the looks of things we could be letting Darmian go so he will get an instant promotion to second choice right back should that happen and the rest is up to him. This guy has PL experience and has been an integral part of a very impressive defense meaning that he'd be an obvious upgrade, though a stop gap one, on our current back options.
On Fergie, the guy was Mr Manchester United he could get away with anything short of coming out as a closet Nazi whilst Mourinho is here to rehabilitate his reputation after two ungracious exits. He will naturally avoid taking unnecessary risks and if he can get a 9m insurance policy then I don't see the harm in that.
 
He would be a good short term signing. I don't think he'd be an automatic starter but provide a reliable back up option to Smalling, Bailly and Blind. Phil Jones cannot be relied upon due to his injuries so it's better to sell him.
 
Leftback99 said:
The revisionism on Smalling because we have a shiny new player (Bailly) at CB is bizarre.
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The problem I have with Smalling is not defending related. I think he can dominate a lot of players. But he can be very easily dispossessed. His passing isn't top notch and under pressure both Bailly and blind have done extremely well to not lose the ball so often . Fonte too seems to be hard to dispossess. I'm not a huge fan of fonte but he is barely injured afaik and is fit. Plus he is gonna cost less than 10m. Jones can leave on loan and Rojo can be backup LB leaving us 4 CBs
 
Giant Midget said:
Don't see why he'd want to make the switch then... to be be 4th choice at 32 years old is not a sensible career decision.
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Let me tell you that to end a career at United under Mourinho is not something to shy away for any Portuguese player! Except Ronaldo, maybe... Also, although Fonte came through Sporting's youth and was at Benfica, he was never an established player. So, a big club like this comes knocking…
 
Kind of uninspiring signing Wenger would make late in window to help keep Arsenal in the top 4; Arteta like signing.

Smalling, Bailly, Blind (who I am not a huge fan of) - are all better than him. We don't need him. We should either get a top class experienced player who is an upgrade on the three or get a young player (may be from the academy) with potential.
 
prath92 said:
The problem I have with Smalling is not defending related. I think he can dominate a lot of players. But he can be very easily dispossessed. His passing isn't top notch and under pressure both Bailly and blind have done extremely well to not lose the ball so often . Fonte too seems to be hard to dispossess. I'm not a huge fan of fonte but he is barely injured afaik and is fit. Plus he is gonna cost less than 10m. Jones can leave on loan and Rojo can be backup LB leaving us 4 CBs
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Never really felt that Smalling was easily dispossessed. The only glaring weakness of his game is that he goes for the long ball way too often, but i put that mainly down to us as a team not really coping well when put under pressure. Under Mourinho so far the distance between the players seems to be a lot smaller compared to our time with Van Gaal, and the midfielders seem to be a lot more eager to actually collect the ball from our defenders, so i think he will be fine. In terms of defending he´s probably still the best we have (still have to wait if Bailly can keep up this kind of performances)

Our style of defending will probably suit Smalling down to the ground as well with us closing down the centre and forcing them wide to put in crosses or to go 1 vs 1 against our quick full-backs.
 
Nah don't want Fonte, Jose is just being greedy now.

Baily and Blind are doing fine, Smalling is going to walk into the team when he is fit, then you have Rojo and Jones as well as Fosu Mensah. Add Carrick to list as well if need be thats more then enough cover at CB.
 
Gerald G said:
I'm quite surprised some seem to rate Fonte so highly. Is it because of Euros? Because he wasn't that impressive for me in the league. He was ok I guess but nothing to shout about.
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I think it's because he's Portuguese and so is José. The more suspicious of us might suggest it's something to do with sending Jorge Mendes his Summer bonus too.

He had quite a good Euros, he was his steady self in the league as he was in his other seasons in the Prem, Championship and League 1.

Don't know where these opinions that's he's brilliant or a fantastic signing have suddenly come from. I'd imagine if we were linked with the likes of Michael Dawson or Joleon Lescott there'd be some on here that would try justify those signings too.
 
Fonte is easily better than any of our CBs. Signing him for £9m is a steal. You have an accomplished top defender with a wealth of experience, good organisation & obscene level of durability.

United will play close to 60 games this season if we go all the way in Europa league. Majority of our fixture will be Thursday-Sunday-Thursday. I wouldn't trust any of our sicknote players to cope as we saw in the last 2 seasons under LVG.

Our rivals will have to send RPGs to break the partnership between Fonte & Bailly. It sounds very promising. 2 no nonsense defenders that will fight with their last pint of blood to get us to the finish line. I want Fonte.
 
ManUchosenbosslvg said:
I think it's because he's Portuguese and so is José. The more suspicious of us might suggest it's something to do with sending Jorge Mendes his Summer bonus too.

He had quite a good Euros, he was his steady self in the league as he was in his other seasons in the Prem, Championship and League 1.

Don't know where these opinions that's he's brilliant or a fantastic signing have suddenly come from. I'd imagine if we were linked with the likes of Michael Dawson or Joleon Lescott there'd be some on here that would try justify those signings too.
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:lol: The last sentence killed me but yeah I agree. He's been fairly solid since Southampton have been promoted but some saying he's better than all our CB's and the insinuation that he's fantastic? I'm not sure what some have seen that I haven't.
 
sully1 said:
Nah don't want Fonte, Jose is just being greedy now.

Baily and Blind are doing fine, Smalling is going to walk into the team when he is fit, then you have Rojo and Jones as well as Fosu Mensah. Add Carrick to list as well if need be thats more then enough cover at CB.
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RVP was Fergie being "greedy" greed won him a title

A managers job is to build the strongest possible squad
 
Son Of Sam said:
Fonte is easily better than any of our CBs. Signing him for £9m is a steal. You have an accomplished top defender with a wealth of experience, good organisation & obscene level of durability.

United will play close to 60 games this season if we go all the way in Europa league. Majority of our fixture will be Thursday-Sunday-Thursday. I wouldn't trust any of our sicknote players to cope as we saw in the last 2 seasons under LVG.

Our rivals will have to send RPGs to break the partnership between Fonte & Bailly. It sounds very promising. 2 no nonsense defenders that will fight with their last pint of blood to get us to the finish line. I want Fonte.
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I rate Fonte highly, but he is not as good as Smalling or Bailly(so far) and is on a similar level to Blind.
 
dwd said:
I know next to nothing about him. What side does he prefer to play on? Was he at Saints with Luke Shaw?
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Signed for the Saints in League One, has been in the team ever since. Nice story
 
Very solid centre-back. I think he would be a great addition to the squad and more importantly would give us the opportunity to send Tuanzebe on loan, who is way too good to rot in the U21 and "maybe" get a few minutes against pub teams here and there for the first team.

With Fonte it would also give us a good mix in terms of age. Bailly (22 = young talent), Smalling + Blind (26 = close to their prime), Fonte (32 = experienced + leader at the back)
 
Giant Midget said:
Don't see why he'd want to make the switch then... to be be 4th choice at 32 years old is not a sensible career decision.
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Wheres he more likely to win trophies though? Regardless of playing time he would pick up medals and when he looks back on his career I think having the medals would mean more to him than more playing time. Also with the injuries, suspensions and amount of games this season he will still get a decent amount of games. If he integrates well then he could stay in the side.

I think United need an older type defender for Bailly to learn from and also Smalling to become the final product. Sell Rojo and Jones and the team is ready for the season.
 
prath92 said:
The problem I have with Smalling is not defending related. I think he can dominate a lot of players. But he can be very easily dispossessed. His passing isn't top notch and under pressure both Bailly and blind have done extremely well to not lose the ball so often . Fonte too seems to be hard to dispossess. I'm not a huge fan of fonte but he is barely injured afaik and is fit. Plus he is gonna cost less than 10m. Jones can leave on loan and Rojo can be backup LB leaving us 4 CBs
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Smalling may not be the best passer of the ball but he doesn't get caught in possesion as much as you're suggesting here. A bit of a reach IMO
 
sully1 said:
Nah don't want Fonte, Jose is just being greedy now.

Baily and Blind are doing fine, Smalling is going to walk into the team when he is fit, then you have Rojo and Jones as well as Fosu Mensah. Add Carrick to list as well if need be thats more then enough cover at CB.
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You could be right, but I think I'm mentally scarred from what seems like 7 or 8 years of consistent defensive injuries leaving us fecked across the back-line. Fact is that Jones won't be available for most of the season (he just won't be, we all know it) and Smalling's injury-free run last season wasn't exactly normal for him. Rojo however is hopefully over his shoulder injury now, but I still can't help feeling an extra body would be wise to have.
 
If Fonte comes and no one leaves, that puts Tuanzebe, who was just the best player against four internationals from Leicester reserves, as center-back #7 (and this is not counting Fosu-Mensah). He's young but seems to be ready, and Mourinho himself said he was the real thing, so… This is the most clear case of Mourinho wanting to win no matter what and simply not counting with the youngsters. That's why I agree he's being greedy.
 
So, it is true that Jose wants an experienced CB in the back four, to marshal our defence.
I originally thought that this was merely conjecture.
 
Android1974 said:
This is the most clear case of Mourinho wanting to win no matter what and simply not counting with the youngsters. That's why I agree he's being greedy.
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How dare Jose want to win trophies!!!
I think he should be given a warning to stop thinking like a winner and aim for 4th place, while playing youngsters, so they can later be sold to lower grade EPL teams :p

Sorry man...I couldn't resist.
 
Loublaze said:
Smalling may not be the best passer of the ball but he doesn't get caught in possesion as much as you're suggesting here. A bit of a reach IMO
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He is a decent passer of the ball but if pressured, a mistake could be forced off him more than off blind or Bailly. He can't think quickly in terms of passing.
 
Android1974 said:
If Fonte comes and no one leaves, that puts Tuanzebe, who was just the best player against four internationals from Leicester reserves, as center-back #7 (and this is not counting Fosu-Mensah). He's young but seems to be ready, and Mourinho himself said he was the real thing, so… This is the most clear case of Mourinho wanting to win no matter what and simply not counting with the youngsters. That's why I agree he's being greedy.
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Fair point, but I'd imagine it'd be highly likely Rojo or Jones will be out if we sign Fonte. I'd be very surprised if he came in and no-one left.
 
prath92 said:
He is a decent passer of the ball but if pressured, a mistake could be forced off him more than off blind or Bailly. He can't think quickly in terms of passing.
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Passing was one of the important attribute to play for Pep or even Van Gaal. For Jose it doesn't matter much, Jose prefer to play more direct and clear the ball rather than do fancy stuff in the box.
 
I'll be amazed if Font is the difference in regards winning trophies. We have more than adequate CBs. This guy would be superfluous as it gets. I don't know why the newspapers think anyone would be interested in this kind of thing. I'm bored as hell with stories like this.
 
Fonte coming in surely would end any chance of a game for Jonesy, unless Mourinho has other ideas for Blind.

But most likely it'd be the end, 5th choice centre backs only get games in our usual insane injury crisis couple of weeks!
 
Gerald G said:
I'm quite surprised some seem to rate Fonte so highly. Is it because of Euros? Because he wasn't that impressive for me in the league. He was ok I guess but nothing to shout about.
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Same here!
The idea that he'd cruise in as first choice alongside Smalling is very strange, especially how well Bailly has started.
 
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