Some Southampton supporters have been clamouring for the return of former central defender Jose Fonte to St Mary's, after his recent departure from French side Lille, now his future has been settled.

Those who felt that bringing back Jose Fonte to the club he left in January 2017, somewhat under a cloud it should be added, suddenly returning from the Euro Championships in 2016 and demanding a transfer to Manchester united, have not got their wish.

The The Daily Echo has reported that Fonte has agreed a deal with SC Braga in his homeland of Portugal.

They had previously reported that the EX Saint had expressed an interest in returning to St Mary's after leaving Lille, but it seems that the club did not share his enthusiasm for a reunion and that no official talks took place between the two parties.

Fonte who will turn 40 in December returns to his home country's domestic league for the first time since 2007 and he has had this to say.

"I am very happy, excited and eager to help the club achieve its goals.

"It is an immense pride to represent SC Braga, for its greatness, for the past, for the history that my brother [Rui Fonte] built here, I think it is a spectacular step in my career to represent a club of this dimension.

"I've always had an open mind to everything. I knew it was difficult to return to Portugal, but I never closed the door.

"This year it made sense to return, from a family point of view it also allows my family to return to Portugal and we are very excited about that”.

Personally although I felt that Fonte could be useful for Saints, his lack of any actual coaching experience was perhaps the reason why Saints didn't see any value in bringing him back to St Mary's.

He would perhaps have been useful in the dressing room, but would he really have been able to be a regular in the first team at this level, that is the key, we need to be brining in players who can compete at this level, at a time when we are cutting costs, we need to spend our cash carefully.

Some might not agree, after all Fonte was a leader of men at the club for 6 good years, but it has been nearly 7 years since his departure and 6 since his last appearance in the Premier League.

Photo: Action Images

Boris1977 added 23:31 - Jul 18 He doesn't fit the sports Republic profile: big red boots, silly wig, big red nose, colourful oversized trousers, sqirty flower and exploding small car. 3 weeks until the beginning of the season and the club is still bloated and rudderless. I'll be at the Norwich game but not sure what or who I'm getting behind.
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SaintNick added 12:35 - Jul 19 The fact that the club hasn't sold anyone of note is not their fault, they can only sell if another club makes an acceptable offer
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