My guess is "informal talks" means "Fonte and/or agent are mad that we rejected overtures from other teams without even informing them or discussing the possibility with him and/or interested club. Hence, we are forced to discuss the possibility of a move with those parties now even though we do not want to sell. If it were me, I'm tabling Fonte's extension talks right now. If he doesn't like it here, he can finish out his contract, quite possibly on the bench. And good luck getting a job two seasons from now when you are 33. Either that or he and his agent quit wasting their time moaning at us, and instead direct their efforts towards convincing Mourinho to pay what we want.* *That is, under a hypothetical situation where Fonte is trying to get out. Of course, none of this could be happening at all. I'm still not entirely convinced the rumors are accurate.
Ah **** him. If he wants to leave a club where he is captain and adored, to sitting on a bench for a soulless corporation, then good luck to him. His career will be over by Christmas. The Sunderland graveyard awaits.
With the information we've learned on transfers over the seasons, I would be shocked if another club approached saints without the players knowledge. Usually the contact between the clubs is the last thing to finalise. That's why that Twitter note reads like bull. Also I though Jose was fairly animated and involved in yesterday's game from the sidelines. Didn't come across as someone who didn't care or wanted to move
It's not that I think money is the most important thing. It's more I think players think money and playing for a bigger team (be it league wise, fan wise, money wise etc) is far more important then loyalty. That isn't me saying I agree with them, it's me saying it's pretty obvious loyalty is 99% dead.
Yeah, I know. You seem more accepting of it than me. I need to develop dead eyes, that thousand yard stare... and maybe sit on my hand for a bit for a little "stranger" pleasure.
If Jose were to leave i would feel a great feeling of sadness as it would mark the very end of the league one era, which were my favourite seasons as a fan. Just having that group was brilliant.
My usual way of acquiring Saints info, is me texting my source to ask if there's anything new they can tell me yet. Occasionally, it works the other way, and they call me to volunteer it without prompting. As happened whilst I was at the beach this evening. That usually means it is something the Club themselves actively wants out there, unofficial like, via random looney "bullshitters" like yours truly. No blowback that way. So probably take it in that vein. My friend said that with a lot of rumours and uncertainty circulating around Jose Fonte in the last few days, they wanted to clarify a few things. Firstly, there has been NO official bid from Everton. Doesn't know where that one came from. As of the last they knew this evening -- there has also been NO official bid from Utd, or anyone else either. It is all coming from the Agent Mendes Secondly, about Jose himself: he arrived back from winning the European Championship understandably "with his head in the clouds" -- [At least it wasn't in Liverpool] -- and it "still hasn't re-emerged yet". He was offered a renegotiated contract which was effectively simply a pay rise to make him the highest earner at the Club, with an optional one year extention at the Club's discretion to his current deal, which expires in 2018. He indicated he would be delighted to extend, "sort it out with my agent", and went off on his extended post-Euro's holiday. When he arrived back at the Club, it was clear that he was having some mental difficulties in adjusting. Naturally, having just become a European Champion, he was still floating on cloud nine -- but it seems to have all gone to his head. And stayed there. His recent instagram post being a great example of his current mindset. He is "love-struck" with his own success, and can't stop thinking about it. There is no "falling out" -- but Jose has completely lost his focus. It was much more for this reason that he did not start the last game, rather than fitness issues. He is not in the right frame of mind to Captain the team right now, and you can't put the captain out there, without wearing the armband. We were very confident until a few days ago that Jose would sign his new deal, but the agent has been playing games. Using so called "interest" [real or imagined] from "big clubs" to increase Fonte's value and secure a better deal, for both Jose and Agent Mendes himself. This has further destabilised Jose's frame of mind. Fonte has NOT told the Club he wants to leave -- and has indeed repeatedly said himself he is very happy at the Club. Essentially, Jose's International success has screwed with his mind, and he is simply not mentally focussed sufficiently to play. We are hopeful that it is a short-term blip, that he'll simply snap out of -- this being so completely out of character for Jose, who is usually the consummate model professional. Club will do everything in our power keep him, sort his head out, and finalise his yet another new contract. At present, there is no problem in that regard with Fonte acting like a knob or anything, but if any serious bids do arrive, no-one knows exactly how he will react. Club are adamant that he must stay, but if he does kick off about it, and we get another exorbitant offer for a 32 year old defender, then we'll have to wait and see what happens. At this point, as far as we are concerned -- he will be a Saint when the window closes. We're very hopeful he'll get his head sorted out soon, and sign the new deal, which was pretty much done until this "supposed interest" arrived to bump up the figures being asked for by Jose's agent to sign. That's about all I have for now. Sorry it is not exactly all "great news" to share, but my source felt it was something that needed to be clarified. So as always, I pass it on in good faith. "Bullshit" or otherwise.
So basically what others have said. But Schitt yet again has to ramble on and change a paragraph into a essay.
