Hammers capture Euro 2016 winner
WHUFC.com
West Ham United have won the race to sign UEFA Euro 2016 winner Jose Fonte.
The outstanding Portugal international centre-half joins the Hammers from
Southampton on a two-and-half-year contract with the option to sign for
another season for a fee of £8million.
Fonte was linked with a range of clubs in the top flight before opting to
move to London Stadium
The experienced central defender has enjoyed a successful career in English
football since initially joining Crystal Palace in 2007, before going on to
make 154 Premier League appearances and captain Southampton for the past
three-and-a-half seasons.
A strong and technically-gifted defender and respected leader, Fonte wants
to take his career to another level at London Stadium and revealed that he
cannot wait to pull on a Claret and Blue shirt for the first time.
Fonte said: "I signed for West Ham because they are a great club and a very
big club. They have a lot of fans and I have known for a number of years how
passionate they are.
"The manager was also a very big influence. I thought that he really wanted
me and that he sold me the project and the ambition of the Club.
"I also have part of my family living in London and they are big West Ham
fans. It just made sense for me at this stage to join West Ham. It is a new
challenge and a new beginning and I am looking forward to it.
"With the way that West Ham is going we can only look to be challenging in
the top eight.
"I told the manager in conversations that we want to win and we want to win
trophies. The ambition is big and we need to aim high.
"West Ham are a massive club and it is an exciting challenge and it should
be for everyone. We all need to get together and start working."
Fonte began his career in Portugal where he spent a decade at Sporting B and
eventually caught the eye of Lisbon's other giant, Benfica.
A move to the Estadio da Luz followed in 2006, but with first-team
opportunities limited, he moved to England in the summer of 2007 and signed
for Crystal Palace, where he made 92 appearances over three seasons.
In January 2010, Southampton manager Alan Pardew moved for Fonte, and he was
part of the team that won the Football League Trophy at Wembley just a few
weeks later – featuring alongside a certain Michail Antonio.
FonteFonte was a central figure in the League One title-winning squad of
2011/12 – a season that also saw him named the club's Player of the Year for
the first time.
As the Saints marched to a second consecutive promotion – narrowly beating
the Hammers to second place in the Championship – Fonte's own reputation
grew as he seamlessly settled into life at a higher level.
That trend continued as Southampton established themselves in the Premier
League from 2012 onwards, with their Portuguese defender a virtual
ever-present under managers Nigel Adkins, Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald
Koeman.
After being appointed captain in summer 2014, Fonte won his second Player of
the Year award at the end of a season that also included his senior
international debut in a friendly win over Argentina in Manchester.
Since then, he has been a regular member of the Portugal squad, and forced
his way into the starting XI for the knockout stages of UEFA Euro 2016.
There, he played every minute as the Portuguese defeated Croatia, Poland,
Wales and France to achieve a historic success.
Fonte will not be available for Saturday's Premier League fixture at
Middlesbrough, but could make his West Ham debut at London Stadium when
Manchester City
visit on Wednesday 1 February.
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From the Boardroom - David Gold
WHUFC.com
I am thrilled that we have been able to complete the signing of Jose Fonte
from Southampton.
Jose has a wealth of experience at the highest level and is a proven winner
having won the European Championships with Portugal last summer.
We need quality experienced players who have played in the Premier League
and will settle in straight away. You can never have too many quality
players in the squad and this is an important signing.
He has played over 250 games for Southampton in the top flight and is a
seasoned professional who will settle in straight away. This is great news
for the Club and he will be a great acquisition.
We have invested a lot of money to secure his signature but we have to face
facts that there is inflation in the market and the prices are going up and
we have to match the demand.
But we have always said that if the right player becomes available we will
do everything to get them into the Club and that has proved to be the case
on this occasion.
Supporters are constantly asking me how many players will be brought into
the squad in January.
I can tell the fans that we have a fantastic team working behind the scenes
headed by David Sullivan, who works closely with Slaven Bilic, and they are
working tirelessly hard to find players who will improve the team.
People also ask me about a new right back but we cannot forget that we have
a talented full-back in Sam Byram who has just returned to first-team action
following a lengthy injury, and he looked very impressive in the second half
last weekend.
This is a very short window and it is very tough to get the players you
want, but we have always said that we will only sign a player if it is the
right deal for the football club.
What more can I say about the memorable victory over Crystal Palace last
Saturday. Can we have experienced a better second half display?
There was so much expectation on the game with Sam Allardyce coming back to
West Ham and all the issues surrounding Dimitri Payet going into the game,
but we needed to come away with the three points.
This was one of the biggest victories I have been involved in since I came
to the Club.
We saw three incredible goals and three fantastic assists from Michail.
Sofiane Feghouli managed to kick-start his season and score his first
Premier League goal.
We then witnessed a wonder goal from Andy and it was a sensational strike.
His performance throughout the game was outstanding and he was all over the
pitch. It was one of the best performances from a centre-forward I have ever
seen.
To cap it off Manuel Lanzini produced a superb finish to make it 3-0 and it
was a fantastic performance from everyone in the team.
I was so happy for the players and also for Slaven Bilic who came out and
changed the system at half-time and reverted to a 4-4-2 formation.
He pushed Michail upfront and the manager should take a lot of credit for
that. The fans certainly showed who they are behind and showed their support
towards the manager and the team.
The fans were sensational and you cannot say to me that there is no
atmosphere inside London Stadium.
The victory has given renewed hope to the fans and the confidence back to
the team. I spoke to Mark Noble before the game and he assured me that the
players were determined get the victory and everyone was behind the football
club.
We now face a trip to to the north east on Saturday and another tough game
against Middlesbrough.
All the away games in the Premier League are difficult, but our confidence
is high and there is no reason why we cannot go to Middlesbrough and win the
game.
We are back to our best following that second half performance last week and
long may that continue.
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Jose Fonte - Ten Fast Facts
WHUFC.com
Find out more about West Ham United's first signing of the January transfer
window – Jose Fonte
Has appeared in the top three divisions in both Portugal and England
Appeared alongside Michail Antonio in the 2010 Football League Trophy final,
in which Southampton beat Carlisle United at Wembley
Named in the 2010/11 League One Team of the Season alongside Southampton
teammates Adam Lallana and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and current New York Red
Bulls striker Bradley Wright-Phillips
Younger brother Rui is a winger who spent three seasons with Arsenal as a
teenager and currently plies his trade with Portuguese club Braga
Made his senior Portugal debut on 18 November 2014 as a substitute in a 1-0
friendly win over Argentina at Old Trafford – nearly nine years after making
his final appearance for Portugal U21s
Played 154 Premier League matches for Southampton, winning 59, losing 56,
keeping 51 clean sheets, scoring seven goals and assisting two
Made 224 clearances last season – the eighth-highest of any Premier League
player
Started all four knockout stage matches for Portugal at UEFA Euro 2016,
conceding just one goal in 450 minutes of football as Fernando Santos's side
beat Croatia, Poland, Wales and France.
Was awarded the Portuguese Order of Merit after helping his country to win
the first major tournament in their history – UEFA Euro 2016
Perhaps unsurprisingly, he is the only player to have won both the Football
League Trophy and UEFA European Championship!
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Manager on Matchday
WHUFC.com
Good morning everyone,
The players have been full of confidence this week following the big win
over Crystal Palace and we are hoping to see the same level of performance
at the Riverside Stadium this afternoon.
We just need to keep taking it game by game and build on this situation.
First of we need to secure staying up and reach the magic 40 points. Then we
need to try and get to 50 and as high as possible. We are in a much better
situation than a couple of months ago.
I am expecting a very tough game against Middlesbrough on Saturday and I
have respect for them.
Aitor Karanaka has done a very good job and to get promotion in two seasons
is brilliant – especially in the Championship as it is a unique competition.
He got them in the Premier League and was brave to add some players like
Negredo, Valdes and others. You need character and to be a decision maker.
He's done it all. They are hard to beat and very organised, credit to him.
They have organisation, quality and they are playing with confidence but we
have a chance and I'm expecting my players to be how we were in the second
half against Palace.
We need to be on top of the game, brave on the ball, to be lethal, to
deliver crosses, break through them and defend in numbers. When we do that
we have a chance against every team.
Hopefully the players with knocks will be okay and that is crucial as well.
Against Palace we had to work very hard to get the three points even though
the scoresheet says 3-0. It wasn't easy.
I was asked in the pre-match press conference about the possibility of more
young players going out on loan and the chances of Toni Martinez breaking
into the first-team squad.
Will he (Toni) be good enough? You never know. He should be good enough. He
has scored a lot of goals but it is very hard to judge players from
different levels and different leagues.
Last year I saw British clubs putting young players in and I am asking are
they putting them based on training and then I found out they have a policy
of 15 games so they send them on loan for a year or too and then if they are
good, they take them back and put them in the team.
For me that is the key. The U23s is really good for young players but the
stage comes when the players should go. Is it one season, two seasons….
We have all been there. Even the big players like Frank Lampard and Rio
Ferdinand, you should play and live with the people who are feeding their
families out of those Saturdays and Sundays and that is the key. We send
them and look at them.
We then decide if he is good enough and put him in a game or he is not good
enough, lets release him or sell him.
Frank and Rio both went out on loan. Rio was great in training but he didn't
get a chance ahead of myself, Marc Rieper and Julian Dicks.
He went to Bournemouth and that is what Harry Kane done and many others like
that. That is why Josh Cullen is on loan and Reece Burke is on loan. Marcus
Browne has gone into the Championship and that is the way for me.
Reece Oxford had a situation with the contract and now it is signed, but he
also didn't train for six weeks because of injury, but now he is back and it
is too late for a loan. He might get a chance here.
The plan with Reece is he has a great future with us and he should be in
West Ham if he is centre back three or four, but not five. If that is the
case he should go out on loan for one-year to emerge and improve and then
come back and play. That is the very simple philosophy but definitely the
best one.
I was also asked about Andy Carroll and where I rate his scissor kick
against Palace last weekend.
That was a perfect goal. A few of those think 'could the keeper have saved
it?' or 'that was lucky because he hit it with the shin pad'.
This was like it was for a book - when you have a page for a great
scissors-kick goal you would have it go in a corner and that was exactly
what he did.
People have asked if it is better than the scorpion kicks that were scored a
few weeks ago.
I am not objective but for me this was better because those goals that they
scored, they were magnificent but they were a little bit lucky. They had
nothing to lose, the ball was there and they thought 'OK, let's try it' and
suddenly they are celebrating.
Andy's was planned from the moment the cross came in.
I wish all our fans making the long trip to the north east a safe journey
and hope we can come away with another three points.
Enjoy the game.
Slaven
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http://vyperz.blogspot.com
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