According to ESPN, the Portuguese wants to make Southampton and Portugal defender Jose Fonte his fifth signing.
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Speaking ahead of Southampton’s Friday night clash with Manchester United, Puel insisted that Fonte remains unaffected by the transfer talk, and questioned the timing of the news.
“But there is no problem with Jose. [It is] just unusual to see this rumour, just before the game against United”, he said. He is a very good professional and he has trained well this week.
“Jose has good experience, so I know he can not be disturbed by the story”, he said.
‘Jose has good experience, so he can not be disturbed by this rumour but I am just surprised to hear this before the game, two days before the match. “I am surprised to see this two days before we play United but it is not a problem”.
‘I think he has also scored against other teams without any problems, ‘ he said.
“He’s a fantastic player and of course he can score without opportunities”. Against Ibra and all the other players, the answer is our collective.
Despite spending most of his managerial career in his native France, Puel’s record of developing youth saw him billed as a like-for-like replacement for Ronald Koeman and the Frenchman was complementary of his players.
Fonte has played more than 250 games for Southampton since joining from Crystal Palace for £800,000 in 2010 and has established himself over the past four years as one of the most reliable centre-backs in the Premier League.
“It’s important to stay just on our game and not on our opponents’ players”.
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Varane and Leonardo Bonucci were Mourinho’s prime targets to add experience to the back line at United, but the duo have declined a chance to move to England, with the former confirming his intentions to remain with the Spanish capital club.
