Everton want to sign seasoned pro

Everton are reportedly amongst a clutch of clubs who are interested in signing Jose Fonte this month. The Southampton centre back has been the subject of perennial transfer speculation over the last year and the Toffees seem to be the latest interested party.

That’s according British media outlet, The Daily Mirror, who writes:

Everton are ready to swoop for exiled defender Jose Fonte after the Southampton captain was axed for tonight’s EFL Cup semi-final against Liverpool.

The 33-year-old Portugal international was something of a late bloomer and only made his debut for his international side in 2014.

But he has been an absolute stalwart at Southampton over the last seven and a half seasons, playing 286 games and scoring a creditable 15 times.

He’s an extremely solid, composed and reliable player. He’s never had that much pace but he’s not the slowest defender in the Premier League either and he’s been in England for long enough to know the game inside out.

Everton already have some quality in defence but with Phil Jagielka also getting into veteran status Everton may well look at the defence this winter.

Everton have also been strongly linked with Manchester United duo Morgan Schneiderlin and Memphis Depay in the winter window and they could turn out to be one of the biggest spenders in the January transfer window.

Everton manager Ronald Koeman obviously worked with Fonte at Southampton so he knows all about his quality.

Let’s have a look at the player in action. Everton fans – would this be an improvement to the squad or is Fonte no better than what you currently have?