Saturday 21 January 2017

More Transfer Weirdness From West Ham


 Jose Fonte - a decent centre back who has good leadership skills. Moreover, he is a proven winner with Portugal in the 2016 Euros. However, at 33 years 'young' you'd really have to wonder what on earth West Ham are doing! The reported transfer fee of £8 million seems exorbitant - especially when you consider that West Ham let the talented and versatile (and considerably younger) James Tomkins go for £10 million in the Summer!

The big question is where Fonte will fit into Bilic's side? The Irrepressible Winston Reid would seem a starting fixture which raises questions about the confidence SuperSlav has in Angelo Ogbonna. Moreover, the move will hardly Cheer the two Reece's who surely must be worth more game time as we seem to be heading for a mid-table consolidation year?

The contract runs until 2019 by which time Fonte will be 35. It's a strange one and in all honesty, just now is a move from Southampton to West Ham really much of an upgrade? Perhaps SuperSlav will argue that strengthening the defence and adding leadership to the side will tilt our fortunes for a big push forwards?

A look at Fonte's stats on Squawka further confuses the matter. He has an overall rating of 261, with 9 defensive actions per game and a 47% success rate in challenges. At 28 years of age, Angelo Ogbonna is in his prime and has a rating of 300 with 8 defensive actions per game and a 59% success rate in duels. Is Fonte here to just provide cover? That would be quite a come down for the Southampton captain!

Weird, just weird!

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