Southampton must not let Manchester United and Arsenal target Jose Fonte leave at all costs

It would be fair to say that Southampton’s draw with Watford at home threw up rather more questions than answers.

Instead of providing a much clearer idea of how Claude Puel’s new-look side would look, the 1-1 result against a team many expect to be fighting against the drop caused concern rather than cautious excitement.

A move away from the 4-2-3-1 formation that was favoured by both Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman to an unorthodox midfield diamond that brought Puel relative success at his last club Nice means that things have changed at St Mary’s.

After the way that both the former managers spearheaded their sides with big targetmen in Rickie Lambert and Graziano Pelle, the change has raised eyebrows.

Saints skipper Fonte – Photo: Marc Atkins / Offside.

Saints look far less powerful going forward because of the more patient style, but a lot of that is down to the fact that Pelle and Sadio Mane, who grabbed 22 league goals between them, have departed for pastures new. A rough income of £50m may have helped soften the blow, but the tactical niggles have meant their absence was more prominent against the Hornets.

But Puel’s system cannot be blamed for the error prone defending that led to Etienne Capoue’s opener, and perhaps highlighted the importance of Jose Fonte more than ever.

The Saints captain was absent against Watford through a lack of match-fitness, yet transfer rumours linking him away to Manchester United and Arsenal have made a fanbase all too familiar with departures understandable nervous.

Whilst the departures of Mané and Victor Wanyama to Liverpool and Tottenham respectively were fairly predictable, ditto Pelle’s exit to China when it became clear the Italian would not be offered a contract extension on a deal that would expire next summer, Fonte’s situation was different.

Like the former pair, the centre back is a key part of the starting XI, yet the fact he is the team captain shows his importance off the pitch as well.

Whilst Mané and Wanyama had cases of indiscipline, notably last season against Norwich City, it was always Fonte who would speak for the players when Saints were going through a rough patch. Quite literally a Portuguese man of war, the amount of times that the defender recruited from Crystal Palace back in January 2010 has given everything for the cause means his status amongst the fans could not be much higher.

New Southampton boss Puel is determined to hang onto his captain – Photo: Marc Atkins / Offside.

There is no stronger example than a picture on his Instagram of his battle-worn feet, left irreversibly damaged by having two injections a game for 15 matches to get Saints promoted in 2012 despite playing with two broken toes.

It is things like the examples of where Fonte has quite literally put his body on the line for the team, that makes the idea of selling him for £10m rather galling. In a business sense, receiving that fee for a 32-year-old would make a lot of sense, but it is the off-field qualities that make the Portuguese international worth far more.

Fonte has stepped up from League One to European standard, for club and country with ease and his passion for the cause and his ultra-professionalism on the training ground and matchdays that make him a captain respected by fans, staff and players.

Trying to replace those qualities that are otherwise lacking in the Saints squad, plus finding a centre-back of a similar quality, make the fee almost worthless.

The defender himself has said that whilst he would be happy to stay, he has also admitted that he is “flattered” to be linked to Manchester United, and it is difficult to disagree with him. A move to one of the world’s biggest clubs to play for his compatriot Jose Mourinho, starting most weeks in battles to win trophies, would be understandably tempting to an individual as ambitious as the Southampton icon, who tasted major silverware for the first time this summer when he lifted the European Championships trophy in France for his country.

But the move surely does not make sense for the Saints transfer committee, even if it appeals to Fonte himself. The hierarchy have shown that the club can handle high-profile exits from the pitch and the dugout, raising eyebrows by achieving their highest Premier League finishes in consecutive years, despite selling many key players.

However, as much as fans would like to see the club put up much more of a hardball stance to keep players, there is a huge difference between selling your best players with two months left of the window and letting them go after the season has started. Doing so for a similar fee that Championship side Aston Villa paid for James Chester would, quite simply, be baffling.

Fonte with the Euro 2016 trophy after Portugal beat hosts France in the final last month – Photo: Marc Atkins / Offside.

Selling players to bigger clubs is a fact of life for clubs of Southampton’s size, and when players want to go and a large offer is on the table that makes sense the majority of times it ends up with a sale, even if the fans may not wholly agree.

A scouting network capable of finding diamonds in the rough means that Saints are in a better position to accept an offer, too.

But selling Fonte would likely be the final straw for a fanbase growing weary of seeing important players leaving. After bringing in over £60m, there is no financial reason that dictates Saints have to sell, nor would £10m be worth selling a vital player on and off the pitch.

Fonte may not be totally happy if a dream move to Old Trafford in his twilight years wasn’t to come to fruition, but the upheaval and inevitable backlash would make it a very difficult for Southampton if he was to leave too.

The St Mary’s hierarchy have shown some ambition by tying down the majority of their first-team stars to longer contracts and have offered their captain wages that would see him as one of their top earners again, but fans will want to see more in the transfer market in order to see how far that stretches.

If the club were to sell Fonte even more questions would be raised; not least how to replace not just an important player but an important person. It is time to stand firm.