Crystal Palace boss Neil Warnock has confirmed he has been present at recent Arsenal Reserve fixtures – but not to watch midfielder Henri Lansbury as internally reported, but young striker Rui Fonte instead.
Warnock already has one Fonte on his books – Rui’s older brother Jose – and after being tipped off about his brothers talents, Rui has now been officially courted by the Championship outfit with the former Sheffield United boss admitting the interest to the Croydon Advertiser.
“I saw that we were linked with (Henri) Lansbury – but I was actually their watching Jose Fonte’s brother, Rui.”
The 18-year-old is in the final campaign of a three year loan spell with the Gunners, and has shown excellent form which has brought four goals so far this season, with three in his last three fixtures. Arsenal can buy the striker for $1.5 million dollars next summer, but it remains unlikely at present that the move would be made permanent.
Last month Fonte agreed a contract extension with parent club Sporting until 2010, those papers will be signed in July should Liam Brady decide against extending the Portuguese Under 19 International’s stay in London.
Palace are reported to have been impressed with his link play and technical abilities, but his slight frame has put off Warnock – who feels the rigours of Championship football would prove too much for the elegant front man.
Article By – J.Sanderson
i say we sign him permanently and try and improve him wat u fink j?
Well, i personally very much like him, if we could just get him up to a better level physically, he could prove to be a top buy.
i really like his movement and find it disappointing that he wont be with us next season because I think he could really improve playing reguarly in the reserves this season.
I think he’s garbage
It’s not certain he will not be with us next season, if he continues his excellent rate of scoring then it leaves Banfield and Brady with a tough choice.
well, that was abit of a suprise!
Very much so, I thought the Rui + Jose link seemed a little too plausable to be true, but no.
All he needs to do is get stronger on and off the ball then we have a very good player on our books. He knows where the net is and can header the ball well, his link play with the midfield is good. I personally think we should keep him because he has the technical ability to succeed here and strength can be worked on in the gym so its not worth letting him go on that account.
He showed against chelsea that he can shoot the odd screamer too!
He is a great Player, Wenger, don’t miss him!
He may have finally started to settle and if what u say about his movement being excellent then it may be worth keeping him. More goals is needed though.
P.S. I read in one of ur last posts ans u said u will put the video up on the forum. What Forum? Thanks.
Re david. How the hell is fonte garbage. And we would be stupid to not sign him. If we don’t we will end up regretting it when he turns out to be a star in portugal.
WE ARE NOT GETTIN APPIAH..
ARSENE SAID THIS ON ARSENAL.COM……
Arsène Wenger has dismissed speculation that Ghana captain Stephen Appiah could be heading to Emirates Stadium.
When asked whether he was interested in Appiah, Wenger’s reply was short and blunt. “No, we are not on the case,” he said.
I SWEAR DOWN, IF WE EVER HAVE A MIDFIELD CRISIS….IM GOING TO BE MAD
This loan arrangement with Sporting has always puzzled me a bit. Does he really have the potential to be an Arsenal first team player in the future?
Re forrest i personally think he could be very good for arsenal in the future i agree he needs to toughen up but he is only just 18 and with the ability he has he is well worth getting. He stood out above very good players like drogba(who i know isn’t fully fit) sinclair merida etc
apparently now we might be about to get, MINEIRO a brazillian defensive midfielder aged 33 and as small as messi. with his play similiar to that of marcos senna.
I must say the jury is out on Fonte for me. Everytime I start to write him off he does something out of the blue and I go back to not knowing.
(It should be ‘there’ in the Warnock quote, not ‘their’.)
I like him…A bit hit and miss, but has the ability to create something out of nothing with skill and awareness…
He reminds me of RVP a bit. I think with the right attitude and coaching, he could become a great striker…Finally Portugal can replace Nuno Gomes, lol.
Just watched the highlights of the CC game at Blackburn last year great dislpay. Breeds confidence when the kids can beat their first team.
All last season after games when I’d seen diaby you would think he just doesnt look like a left winger, which he isnt. But when you see highlights, he still produced some moments of fabulous skill.
Anyway, got me thinking, line up for the game a week tuesday?
Fabianski
eboue(?) – Djourou – Silvestre – Gibbs
Wilshire – Randall – Song – Merida (maybe diaby for gibbs and song at he back)
Vela – Bendtner
Not a bad side. I left out Ramsey to, so probably song in defence…
prob a good shout on the lineup, i’d like for ogogo to play right back though and fonte to get on bench.not sure it will happen though
This would be my team:
Fabianski
Lansbury – Djourou – Silvestre – Gibbs
Song/Coquelin?
Merida – Randall – Wilshire
Vela – Bendtner
JW19 – i think you might be right with lansbury at right back. I figure diaby and rosiky could get run outs if fit, although rosiky looks unlikely. Surely merida randall and wilshire have to start.
Henri Lansbury is a central midfielder not a right back
but he has played well at RB for us in preseason..
A RB is technically a central midfielder who can cross.. the movement, priorities etc is pretty similar..
I suggested Lansbury at RB as it could improve key aspects of his game like his stamina as he would spend the game running up and down the pitch and also his defending. When he then plays in his preferred central role he would be a much complete midfielder compared to say Merida who is very attacking an would mean he could play as a box-to-box midfielder in the same way Gerrad does for Liverpool.
and*
It’s Wilshere, not Wilshire.
has lansbury got the pace and power to bomb down the right hand side all day like sagna does??
id still rather see him at CM….i heard he played very good there for england under 19s
Seems pointless playing lansbury out of position when ogogo is a very good right back and could defo do a good job against a championship side
But Henri Lansbury is a better prospect in my mind, and the midfield is already crowded. And I believe RB will be an excellent position for Lansbury to strengthen his defensive ability. I really believe Lansbury can make it here(I believed that prior to the England game too), whereas I believe Ogogo will struggle to ever break trough.
Please take him Warnock,He is shit and is holding back players with far more potential like Murphy and Freeman
Oh and it’s obvious all the people here bigging up the useless Rui Fonte have only ever seen him play online with highlights.So what if he has scored 4 goals “this season” 3 of them we’re against part time non league pub teams and the other was a lucky free kick against Chelseas reserves when he was the worst player on the park and was about to be subbed.
CAN YOU BELIEVE ROSICKY HAS HAD ANOTHER INJURY SETBACK :@…
APPARENTLY HIS KNEE HAS REACTED BADLY TO THE OPERATION SO HES GOING TO BE OUT FOR LONGER….
I FEAR FOR HIS CARRER….RIGHT NOW, HES AT THAT AGE WEN HE SHOULD BE PLAYING HIS BEST FOOTBALL…BUT INSTEAD HES INJURED
LOOKS LIKE ITS NASRI AND VELA’S TURN TO SHINE IN DAT LEFT MIDFIELD ROLE…
What’s a Rosicky?
The Daddy – Wrong, I have seen him probably more than most people and you can only beat the teams you play against.
Sure he has some things to work on and i addressed that in the article, but he certainly is a very talented boy.
It’s fact that he has those goals, and they were very important ones in terms of winning the game.
j.sanderson…
what arsenal young gun excites you the most out of all??
I have seen fonte 8 times live and fair few times on tv and he is very good and has a massive future and how was that freekick lucky is that not just a great freekick.
HE IS NOT ON LOAN AT ARSENAL!!!