After an assured start to his Saints career, we take a closer look at Saints’ new centre back, José Miguel da Rocha Fonte.

After an assured start to his Saints career, we take a closer look at Saints’ new centre back, José Miguel da Rocha Fonte.

Born in Lisbon on December 22, 1983, José is the son of Artur Fonte who played in the Portuguese first division with northern club side Penafiel.

José’s younger brother is also a footballer- Rui Fonte is a Portugal U21 striker who was on the books of Arsenal as a youth team player and now plays up front for Vitoria (on loan from Sporting Lisbon) in the Portuguese league’s top division.

José has a glamour model girlfriend, Cassie Summer, who has previously dated Russell Brand and Chelsea’s Michael Essien. The 25 year-old from Chichester has modelled for Playboy and recently starred in ITV2’s WAGs Boutique. Talking to OK! in October 2009 Cassie said: "José and I live together in West Wickham, Kent. It’s early days, we’ve only been going out a few months – but we’ve moved in together, so I’d say it’s fairly serious! I didn’t know José was a footballer when we met in a local bar. But José is different from other footballers I’ve met – he’s actually a nice guy! Our first date was on Valentine’s Day and we went to a restaurant for dinner."José started his playing career at Sporting Lisbon before playing at a succession of Portuguese teams including Salgueiros, Fel

gueiras and Vitória. He moved to Benfica in January 2006 but was immediately loaned out to Paços de Ferreira and then Estrela da Amadora the following season to gain first-team experience.Before the 07/08 season Jose garnered attention from a host clubs across Europe. Teams from Spanish, English and even Romanian leagues were interested in taking the young centre half on loan and Chris Coleman, manager at Premier League side Fulham, came very close to signing Fonte.

Speaking about this period, Jose told the Croydon Advertiser: "At the time Fulham came in for me I was playing at Benfica. Fulham asked me to go there on trial but my view was that if you play for a club like Benfica then you shouldn’t really need a trial.

"That was the view of myself, my agent, the chairman and my family. If they wanted me, they should have offered me more than a trial, so I decided to reject the offer."

And so it was Championship side Crystal Palace who lured Jose to Selhurst Park as Fonte wanted to be nearer to his younger brother who was already playing in London at Arsenal.

In the 08/09 season Fonte was an ever-present in the Palace side, the highlight of his season coming against Norwich on Boxing Day when a brace against Norwich helped secure a 3-1 victory. After the match Fonte said: "England is famous for playing over the Christmas period. When I was young I remember watching English football on Boxing Day so being part of it is special."Fonte is a big fan of his younger brother Rui and on his Portuguese fanpage he says that his brother is the best player in world and would make his World XI alongside Speroni, Vidic, Evra, Maicon, Ferdinand, Messi, Kaka, Gerrard, Ronaldo and Imbrahimovic. Jose even persuaded Neil Warnock to sign Rui on loan from Arsenal in January 2009.

An interview on José’s Portuguese fanpage also reveals that his hobbies include the Internet, cinema and travel, his favourite car is the Lamborghini Gallardo, his favourite dish is Portuguese stone soup with steak and his favourite drink is water.

mula One driver. Jose counts his biggest virtue as not knowing how to hate and his biggest weakness as shooting at goal.

The most important aspect of his life is the happiness of his family and he counts Pedro Miguel, Pedro Alves, Miguel Pinheiro, Valdir Moreno and Luis Miguel as his best friends in football.

José’s greatest moment in football (until he signed for Saints, obviously) was playing for the Vitoria defence in the 05-06 season when the team won the Portuguese Iberic Cup and played in the UEFA Cup. On the other hand, Fonte’s worst moment was scoring an own goal when playing against his Father’s old club, Penafiel.

Have you got any other interesting facts about José Fonte? Put them in the comment box below

Photo: Action Images

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