Jose Fonte: 'I never handed in a transfer request at Southampton'

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 06 March 2017

Fonte unhappy over Southampton 'transfer lies'

Jose Fonte feels that he has been unfairly treated following his mid-season switch from Southampton to West Ham United due to "lies" regarding the nature of the transfer.

Jose Fonte has admitted to being unhappy with suggestions that he pushed through his move to West Ham United by handing in a transfer request at Southampton.

The Portugal international brought an end to his seven-year stint on the south coast in January when joining the Saints' Premier League rivals for a fee of £8m.

Talk was rife at the time that Fonte initially rejected the offer of a new contract and then asked to leave, somewhat forcing manager Claude Puel's hand in the process.

Fonte has now spoken publicly about the mid-season move, confessing that he did consider leaving before the campaign began but did not hand in a transfer request.

"My conscience is very clear," he told Sky Sports News. "When I see all over the news that I submitted a transfer request to leave the club - that is disappointing. That never happened. There was an interview from the club; from a press conference that I demanded to leave, which then the press took it as a transfer request and I wonder - where is it?

"I spoke to the club [after winning Euro 2016] and said there could be possibilities [to move] and I would like the club to consider it. In the summer there were possibilities of leaving – that is normal, everyone fights for their own interests to get the best possible outcome for yourself.

"To say that I wrote an official transfer request to the club, that is a lie. And also that I refused to train and I wasn't being a good captain? That is a complete lie. I have always given my best to that club. That is the main thing the fans should know. I never wrote a letter to the manager or the club saying I want to leave, because even when that came out in the beginning of January I didn't have a club to go to, so why would I put in a transfer request?

"The real fans know I have given everything for the club. They know every time I step on the pitch and put on the shirt, I give blood, sweat and tears. I have played with broken toes, broken ribs. I have done all I could to help the team go from League One to the Premier League. All I want them to know is that what they see in the press about me putting in a transfer request and I refused to train, that is all lies."

Fonte has featured four times for West Ham since joining and is expected to start Monday night's clash against Chelsea.