West Ham Director of Player Recruitment Tony Henry has said the club’s new stadium played an important role in persuading defender Jose Fonte to move from Southampton in the January transfer window.
The Portuguese international signed for £8m on a one and half year deal to help strengthen the club’s defence, and talking about the transfer to the club’s official website, Henry revealed that the London Stadium was influential:
“I remember when we brought Jose Fonte in in January, he just said the stadium was brilliant. When he played for Southampton here, he said he thought it was fantastic. It’s a massive pull.”
Although Fonte has struggled to recapture the form he has shown for both Southampton and Portugal over the past few years so far, it is clear the move to a 66,000 seater venue could play a key role in securing high profile signings in the upcoming summer transfer window.
Henry has said that the club will be looking at three signings “maximum” over the next few months as they look to improve the quality of the players in Slaven Bilic’s squad ahead of the new season.
