Jose Fonte: 'I never handed in a transfer request at Southampton'

Jose Fonte has admitted to being unhappy with suggestions that he pushed through his move to West Ham United by handing in a transfer request at Southampton.

The Portugal international brought an end to his seven-year stint on the south coast in January when joining the Saints' Premier League rivals for a fee of £8m.

Talk was rife at the time that Fonte initially rejected the offer of a new contract and then asked to leave, somewhat forcing manager Claude Puel's hand in the process.

Fonte has now spoken publicly about the mid-season move, confessing that he did consider leaving before the campaign began but did not hand in a transfer request.

"My conscience is very clear," he told Sky Sports News. "When I see all over the news that I submitted a transfer request to leave the club - that is disappointing. That never happened. There was an interview from the club; from a press conference that I demanded to leave, which then the press took it as a transfer request and I wonder - where is it?

"I spoke to the club [after winning Euro 2016] and said there could be possibilities [to move] and I would like the club to consider it. In the summer there were possibilities of leaving – that is normal, everyone fights for their own interests to get the best possible outcome for yourself.

"To say that I wrote an official transfer request to the club, that is a lie. And also that I refused to train and I wasn't being a good captain? That is a complete lie. I have always given my best to that club. That is the main thing the fans should know. I never wrote a letter to the manager or the club saying I want to leave, because even when that came out in the beginning of January I didn't have a club to go to, so why would I put in a transfer request?

"The real fans know I have given everything for the club. They know every time I step on the pitch and put on the shirt, I give blood, sweat and tears. I have played with broken toes, broken ribs. I have done all I could to help the team go from League One to the Premier League. All I want them to know is that what they see in the press about me putting in a transfer request and I refused to train, that is all lies."

Fonte has featured four times for West Ham since joining and is expected to start Monday night's clash against Chelsea.