Jose Fonte Announces His Retirement
Thursday, 28th May 2026 15:20

Jose Fonte was a stalwart in the Southampton defence for 7 years before having his head turned by his new agent, but what a 7 years it was, just a pity he couldnt have stayed just a little bit longer.

The Daily Echo has announced that former defender Jose Fonte is going to retire from playing football at the grand old age of 42.

Despite the fact that as mentioned he left the club under a cloud, that does not detract from the 7 glorious years he had at the heart of the Saints defence with 257 League starts plus 3 as sub, plus another 38 appearances in cup competitions.

Joining in January 2010 just in time to play at Wembley in the Johnstones Paint Trophy, he left in January 2017 to join West Ham, a strange move at the time as he had been heavily rumoured to be joining Manchester United just 5 months earlier.

The sad thing is that when he left Saints were in the League Cup semi final and you thought if he stays we have a good chance of winning the trophy, but he seemed determined to leave for one last big pay day, despite only signing a new contract a little over a year earlier at St Mary's

Given the injury to Virgil Van Dijk shortly after Fonte's departure, if he has stayed and played in the League Cup Final at Wembley we would have had a great chance of winning it.

His time at West Ham was not successful and he moved to China a year later but stayed just 5 months before joining Lille in July 2018, enjoying 5 successful years at the French club, before spells at Braga and Casa Pia.

On social media site Instagram, Fonte said:

"Today game 882. The last one. Nothing was easy. Everything has been conquered.

I am sure that all Southampton supporters, whatever their feelings on the way he left the club, wish Jose Fonte a long and happy retirement from playing football.

With his record at St Mary's during his 7 years at Southampton, the longest spell at any of his clubs he has earned the right to be considered a club Legend and should be remembered for the near on 288 games he played for the club.

Just a pity that he didn't stay and surpass the 300 mark as he surely would have added a League Cup winners medal to his trophy haul.

All Photos Via Reuters

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underweststand added 15:43 - May 28

Not sure of the background on Fonte's leaving, but with VvD as the new CB shining star I got the feeling that the manager of the day wasn't overly keen to keep him, which was a shame as Jose had shared half-a-dozen good partnerships during his time with Saints.

VvD's injury (an off-the-ball clogging from Vardy) was enough to put him out for 6 months, leaving us with 3rd and 4th choice CB's in Yoshida and the (then unproven) Jack Stephens who to their credit DAJFU to their best ability, but were often outclassed by some of the Prem's big guns. Jose was a really good example as player and captain.

A1079 added 16:02 - May 28

He didn't blot his copy book with me. I have always had a positive impression of him both as a player but also the way he handled himself with the media etc. As Underweststand states, he was a good player and captain.

I have always felt (with no real firm basis I suppose) that he has the gravitas to be a manager one day. Time will tell.......or he could take the easier route, like so many do, of being a pundit for a range of media outlets, both here, his home country and a host of others.

WestSussexSaint added 18:18 - May 28 He took a risk joining us at the time, dropping from Championship Crystal Palace to us in League One but became a corner stone of our recovery up to the PL. He will always be linked with one of the most successful periods for the club.
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saintmark1976 added 21:08 - May 28 My two favourites of his goals :- Arsenal at home on Boxing Day when we beat them 4-0, as shown above. Brighton away when we beat them 2-1 on the road to promotion. A top footballer and despite the way he left we were lucky to have had his services.
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Bowlercow added 22:26 - May 28 I think VvD pushed Jose out He wanted the captains armband especially in the euro games Jose was head and shoulders above most cb's He made Lovrin and Alderviereld and assisted VvD to become the player he wanted to be
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SaintPaulVW added 22:42 - May 28 He was a great player and leader both on and off the field for us. I remember he used to make certain other players settled in when they joined us. Everything ends in tears, so no bad feelings about how it ended. Wish him a long and happy retirement.
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redwight added 17:19 - May 30 Underweststand, we also had Martin Caceres, who played for Uruguay in the 2018 world cup. Good enough to be selected for every game, up to and including the quarter final, but apparently deemed inferior to Yoshida and Stephens. Inexplicable then and inexplicable now.
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