José Fonte tries every day to persuade Cristiano Ronaldo to make the switch to Lille OSC. The 37-year-old Portuguese center defender is being moved to Ligue 1 by the arrival of Lionel Messi talkSPORT asked about his compatriot. However, Fonte says with a wink that for the time being he will not receive many hopeful messages from the 36-year-old attacker of Juventus.
“It’s great that a player like Lionel Messi comes to the French league, it makes me feel good. It will only get more difficult for us, but at the same time it offers a challenge”, Fonte admits. The former defender of Sporting Portugal, Benfica, Crystal Palace, Southampton and West Ham United has been wearing the Lille shirt since 2018 and crowned himself last season with lesson Dogues to champion of France, by trumping Paris Saint-Germain in the title fight.
“I send Cristiano Ronaldo a message every day asking to come to Lille. He then replies, “Hahaha.” We’re going to use all our weapons to get him this way. I’m going to make a plan! We have to become champions,” jokes Fonte. The 46-time international knows Ronaldo well from the Portuguese national team, with whom they became European champions in 2016. Fonte has a contract with Lille for the time being until mid-2022.
“It promises to be a huge challenge for us next season. But it would be great if we could say to our children: ‘We played against Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Messi, had to concede zero goals and won’. It will be interesting to see how competitive Ligue 1 will be next season,” concludes Fonte, who formed a central duo with Sven Botman last season at Lille. The reigning champions of France started the season last Sunday with a 3-3 draw against FC Metz.
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