West Ham has signed Jose Fonte, announcing it on the official website this evening. The 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 told WHUFC.com: “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 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. 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.
“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.”
Chairman David Gold added: “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.”
In addition to the £8m transfer fee there is an additional £1m of potential add-ons and Fonte will earn £65,000 per week which is worth nearly £2m to him in wages over the life of his 30 month contract.
Welcome Fonte.
Think that is money well spent….that’s the kiss of death for him. I saw Cameron Jerome play against us when he was just starting & said he would be scoring 20 a season for the next ten years. Take that back. Another mistake by the board. This bloke is hopeless. His legs have gone.
ffs i am so sick of us signing dross. Again we have gone for a relatively cheap middle of the road signing which does not improve our first team. Still haven’t signed a right back. Whats going on here?
Bet he does improve our team.
Please dont put a curse on him 64.Not before he has even played one match lol.I was listening to a Danny Gabbidon interview earlier.He says it will be a really good signing.
I agree there really isnt much not to like considering the fee involved.
As opposed to Ogbonna who never had any legs to start with.
OH yeah middle of the road signing. Won the euros last year so must be average eh?
Sometimes you just have to shake your head Mooro66.What else can you do.
Can’t get my head around this. Why did we ever sell Tomkins? I’m pretty certain he wasn’t on £65k a week. Southampton must be laughing themselves sick right now getting £8m for a 33yr who’s been carried by Van Dijk all season.
100% the guys legs are gone. Been making mistake all season which were covered by big Virjil. Fonte would have been a fantastic signing 1 or 2 years ago but not now.
Well the Saints fan below seems to disagree or are you going to claim to know more about the player than someone who has watched him for 7 seasons.
Good grief.
Here we go again.Sign a player & he is already written off.He knocks spots off Tomkins.
Actually Saints fans are pig sick he left,they really liked & rated him.Saints are nit going to be too happy losing him no matter what they got,they will still need to replace him.Apoligises but sometimes i wonder if you lot even watch these players before you consign them to the bin.
he’s better than tomkins
he’s a stop gap until burke and oxford are a tiny bit older (i hope)
he’s a very good player
ginge is definitely a back up
ogbonna has been a little lax this year
but i still dont understand why this has taken priority over a right back (cover). signing a striker is bloody hard but i don’t think the same can be said of a decent right back. if we end up closing out this window with no right back signed, i’ll be pretty unhappy. nordviet is NOT adequate cover.
Ok, so here goes. My first ever post on a forum…I just felt I had to register and post after reading some of the nonsense I’ve seen about Fonte. I’ve been a season ticker holder for 25 years and watch saints most weeks. Let’s be honest, football is screwed at the moment. I love it , but also hate so much about it also. As a fan of saints, did I want Fonte to go, 100% no. One of the best CB in the league, very consistent and a proper leader. He’s fallen out with Les Read and had his head turned at the euros, for big money by the big boys. Jose was v interested but then pulled away and fonte thought a huge payday and big move was on the way. No disrespect to WHU but this is not what he truly wanted and he must be gutted it’s all ended like this! He will do a job for you for 18 months and it’s not your money, so hey, who cares it’s 8M. I think WHU should be very pleased, you’ve just signed a top player!!!!!
Thanks for the input buddy.Its good to know you still think he can do a job.Also thanks for not just coming on here to rip him apart because he has left you.You are right football is all screwed up pal.We have Payet..enough said.
Good luck for the rest of the season & thanks again..
I hope the club don’t expect the fans to be excited by another awful piece of business. We all see that we need a full back and a striker, so what do the club do spend 9m on a player who is without doubt nothing more than average and has only appeared decent because he has a top keeper and a top partner beside him. Shocking business, another waste of money. Sorry off to the pub dejected.
Sky bet odds for Fontes next destination a few weeks ago.Unfortunately i had a dip on Everton at the time.
“Manchester United are regarded as favourites at 7/4, with Liverpool 3/1. Everton are 5/1, while Fonte’s former club Crystal Palace are outsiders at 28/1.”
Now odds are no real gauge but it was hardly mickey mouse clubs in the running was it for this disgusting bit of business.Jesus what is wrong with you.
Lol Johnham,good to see you are on the wind up again 😂😂
How about Tompkins wanted to be playing first team football at his age and couldn’t get a guarantee of that with us. Have you looked into the circumstances before you start bashing your keyboard. You bloody hero. Ain’t tearing up too many trees with CP is he?
Not too many decent right backs out there mate but how do you know that we ain’t working on one at the moment? Personally I’m happy that Byram is fit and playing again but then again why have a glass half full when you can have a good old moan up. I am really supprised that we don’t have the highest suicide rate in the country considering most of our so called fans are manic depressives. COYI X
Buddy we could sign Sergio Ramos or Gerard Piquet and some would say they are useless…
first up, byram, given i live in the same building as the bloke and meet him for coffee practically every day, i think you’ll find i’m one of his biggest advocates. i put the word cover in there deliberately. surely you recognise that having 1 right sided fullback is not adequate for a premiership club. we’ve gone season after season with a similar situation on the left. now yes, they might be working on a deal, but i haven’t said they aren’t. i’ve simply stated that there’s an obvious need and no sign of a solution being sought. it’s hardly a moan up.
Sometimes LF I just despair.
Colin Irons. Yeah I withdrew my praise for Fonte, so I think that lifts the curse. I will just join in with a lot of the people on here who really are slagging him off! Liked Tomkins cos he was more or less homegrown, but I am old enough to know that is a rubbish reason. He was ok- that was it. This bloke is different class. The only question is his age. Think that Saints fan has decided the verdict on every other point except that.
Lets hope there is no sign of a solution until it’s done. All the moans were about our owners blabbing off to the press about who we’re after etc. Now ,hopefully we are doing our deals in private but that is still wrong in some eyes. Now people want to be informed . Can’t have it both ways mate.
Stay in masters good books 66.He must be loaded if he lives in the same appartment block as Byram 💰💰😂
Please buy us a f*****g right back
until yesterday no one knew this transfer was gonna happen, let’s hope that Slav as a right back & a striker in before window closes & that nobody reveals any names that way won’t be disappointed are Guy Demel & Carlton Cole available lol⚒
I would rather see Oxford given a shot but Fonte is a leader and we have shipped so many goals this season, I wasn’t aware until sky brought up the stat but Fonte over the past few seasons is number 2 in interceptions in the PL if that is the case with him and Reid they could hopefully break up a lot of play in the central areas. I hope he turns out to be a great signing and maybe he can even captain the team, he has said on record he is leaving Southampton because they wouldn’t lengthen his contract not because of any disloyalty if that is the case I would say fair play at his age he needs a decent contract and hopefully he will shore up the centre of defence for us COYI !!!
Yes we def need right back and striker but Im really happy with this signing.
I think its a great bit of business considering the amount of goals weve let in so far this year.
Also really happy that the deal was done quietly and then announced.
Hopefully Slav and the Davids are quietly arranging deals for centre forward and right back and will drop the news out of the blue over the next week.
there are no pleasing some people. News come in that we have signed a new CB, it wasn’t long ago that fans were screaming for one remember & guess what….?? why did we do that? we need a rb..
when has there been a real world class player in any position signed by any team in the January window?
Now if all the ‘experts’ email the club with the correct players names who we should sign & for how much, we can all have an exciting last week of the transfer window.
Great bit of business. The board have done us proud. Reid and Fonte will be formidable. I reckon Oggie is on his way out. I wish people would stop whinging about the money. It’s £8M plus about the same in wages for Fonte for two and half years. That’s football guys. He will still be solid at 35 no question. Oxford and Burke will ready then. No way would I sell Ginge as can play on till 35 too.
Striker and fullback being worked on quietly too mark my words.
Just seen someone complaining on Ron & John’s site that the Fonte signing was announced by Jack. He said he was disgusted that Jack sent him a message on Twitter before the os announced it. Here’s a tip for those that don’t want to hear it from Jack first. DONT FOLLOW JACK ON TWITTER.
I hope that helps.
They spend their lives being disgusted by one thing or another.It aint a suprise.
I can’t get very excited about this signing. I just hope this doesn’t mean Ginge is shown the door. I do wish whoever writes the script for new signings would stop using the same one over and over again and stop peddling the same old dross….’massive club….big club……, fans are passionate…..etc etc’. Irrespective of whether the club is or isnt a big club etc, it is so obviously what the player has been given to say. I doubt anyone believes it comes from the players themselves,
Read any new signings statement at any club its always much the same.What makes you think we are any different.Dont you think that some of these reasons to moan about everything are starting to get a little trivial now.
Yeah Scallyback something like “I’m joining a crappy little east end side that thinks it’s big but it ain’t with whinging know nothing fans. I’m only here for the money the mugs. I’ll kiss the badge a few times if I remember that should do it. Frankly I can’t wait for 2019 when I can sod off to the Algarve”. Happy with that lol?
So a Saints fan is good enough to come on here to give his view & yet still some think they know more about Fonte.
If you didnt laugh you would cry.
Superb bit of business, for a top player.Surprised he chose us,as there were a lot of bigger clubs who wanted him.
Just the sort of player we need,he wants to play for West Ham.Also will attract other players we are after. COYI
The mush is good.Me son in law is a scummer.He says we have a snip at eight million.He is really cheesed off.I was just speaking on the dog to him,said dont believe the mushies sayin his legs have gone or makes lots of mistakes he says it is ****.