Former Saints’ defender, Jose Fonte, revealed to the Football Daily podcast, that was released today, that he had the chance to return to the South Coast this summer.
The European 2016 Champion racked up a whopping 288 appearances for Southampton and shared special moments with the fans.
From League One promotion to European football under the lights at St Mary’s, a return to Southampton would have been spectacular for him and the club after his departure to West Ham United in 2017.
Southampton were relegated from the Premier League last season after a woeful campaign in the top flight where they only accumilated 25 points.
The Portugal international eventually signed for Braga in his home land but it could have been very different for the 39-year-old as he has multiple offers after leaving Lille.
Speaking on the podcast, he explained his disappointment in the move back to Saints breaking down and how his move back to Portugal came about.
“It feels great to be back home, I can’t lie, but all the doors were open after leaving Lille.” Fonte explains
“Honestly, I was looking everywhere, I was looking in England and the possibility of going back to Saints, in the end it didn’t materialise because of the timings but that was a real opportunity there that I was really looking forward to.
“I was looking forward to continuing my adventure in Lille because of the club and I was very successful there, I was very happy there, but it wasn’t possible in the end as the club decided that they wanted to go into a different direction.
“In the end, I had to make a decision as I couldn’t wait too long because I was a free agent in the transfer market.
“I wasn’t very confident that if I didn’t accept the offer [from Braga] that I had on the table, I would have started to get anxious that I might not have a club.”
Fonte is now battling it out under the bright lights of the Champions league against 14 time European Winners, Real Madrid, but it could have been all so different if circumstances had changed.
He could have gone to the infamous Bet365 Stadium to locked horns with Stoke City on a wet and windy night in Stoke-on-Trent, in the Championship.
Getting the former defender to play for Russell Martin could have changed their fortunes at the start of the season as Southampton were shipping goals for fun.
His experience would have been priceless at the back with his football career is ageing like a fine wine as he is still going strong at the age of 39-years old.
