Jose Fonte

Jose Miguel da Rocha Fonte is a Portuguese professional footballer who was born on December 22, 1983 in Penafiel, Portugal. He plays as a centre-back, currently for the French club Lille and Portugal National Football Team.

Background

Jose began his professional career Sporting CP B in the Portuguese second division in 2002 and made 59 appearances for them till 2004 before leaving them.

He then joined many teams like Felgueiras, Paços de Ferreira, Crystal Palace in Segunda Liga and Primeira Liga before his international debut for Portugal.

Debut

In 2006, Fonte was called up to the Portuguese U21 squad for the Vale do Tejo tournament where he played just one game against Slovenia which ended a penalty shootout loss after 1-1 draw.

After waiting for many years, Fonte finally made his debut for the full side in a friendly match over France.

Rise to glory

His 2011-12 Football League One with Southampton was the best for not only him but the team also.

He scored seven goals during that season and helped Southampton in gaining promotion to the second level.

He was also named in the League One team of the year and Southampton’s player of the year for 2011-12 season.

With this performance, he went on to play every game for Southampton till 2015.

Low points

After performing exceptionally well for Southampton, Fonte moved to West Ham United in 2016-17, but his performance there was not up to mark.

He played in two seasons for them with 16 and 8 matches respectively without any goal.

Also in a match against one of his former teams, Crystal Palace, Fonte got his foot injured and was sidelined for the rest of the league.

Club career

After starting with Sporting CP B as professional senior football in 2002 and playing 59 matches for them till 2004, Fonte moved to Felgueiras where he scored his maiden goal.

For his Premier Liga debut, Fonte played for Vitoria Setubal where he played unnoticed 15 games for them.

He was then transferred to Benfica in 2006 where he didn't play any game in the three years that he stayed with them.

Jose Fonte then moved to England to play with Crystal Palace in 2008 but he suffered from many injuries and after recovering from them, Fonte managed to make it to the playing XI and cement his place and went on play a total of 82 matches in which he scored six goals till 2010.

For 2010-10 season, Fonte played with Southampton where he was signed for £1.2 million and it turned out as the most successful phase in his career for which he was also named as the Southampton’s player of the year by getting 64% of the total votes. He then played with West Ham United where he was comparatively less successful.

In February 2018, Fonte signed for the Chinese Super League club Dalian Yifang for an undisclosed fee.

Records

Southampton won the Football League Trophy in 2010-11 season in which Jose Fonte was also a part. Besides that, he was also part of them when they were the runner-ups in the nest two seasons.

He was also selected in the PFA Team of the year of 2010-11 League One and also the Southampton's player of the year for 2010-11 and 2014-15.

For his national side Portugal, he was their part when they won the UEFA European Championship in 2016.