Paulo Fonseca is West Ham’s first choice to replace David Moyes if the Scotsman leaves east London this summer, as i reported last week.
Lille boss Fonseca has impressed in France over the past two seasons and his side face Aston Villa in the Europa Conference League quarter-finals on Thursday night.
But his bold, attacking style would mark a definite shift away from Moyes’ conservatism, which raises questions as to how well the current West Ham squad would suit his methods.
So who is Fonseca, what are his strengths and weaknesses and how would he fit in at the London Stadium?
Who is Paulo Fonseca?
A former centre-back at middling clubs across the Liga Portugal, Mozambique-born Fonseca is a much better manager than he ever was a player. He began his coaching career immediately after retiring at 32, spending seven years across a series of lower level Portuguese clubs before he earned his first top-flight role as manager of Pacos Ferreira in 2012.
Yet in just his first season, Fonseca took Pacos to third in Liga Portugal, qualifying for the Champions League for the only time in their history. They also reached the semi-finals of the Taca de Portugal, developing his continued reputation as a cup specialist, which started by reaching consecutive quarter-finals with sixth-tier Pinhalnovense.
He then left Pacos for one season, an ill-fated stint at Porto which seemed to indicate he had made the step up too early, leaving after just nine months having overseen the end of the club’s five and a half year unbeaten home record.
That season ended with Porto’s lowest points total this century, triggering doubts about Fonseca’s suitability for football’s biggest jobs which some believe still have not been allayed.
Fonseca immediately returned to Pacos in 2014, where his work with a young Diogo Jota helped launch the Liverpool winger’s career, before leaving to try again with one of Portugal’s top jobs, albeit one with slightly less pressure.
In his single season with Braga, Fonseca inspired their first cup win in 50 years, also reaching the Europa League quarter-final, where they were knocked out by his next club – Shakhtar Donetsk.
In the Donbass, Fonseca won the double in each of his three seasons, famously beating Manchester City in the Champions League group stage and conducting his post-match press conference dressed as Zorro to keep a promise after reaching the last 16.
Despite primarily being known for his attacking philosophy, in his final season in Ukraine Shakhtar conceded just 20 goals in 54 leagues games, probably the best example of Fonseca’s work at it’s best – swamping sides so totally they simply cannot get hold of the ball, not unlike his successor Roberto De Zerbi.
The Portuguese then took over at Roma in 2019, guiding the Giallorossi to fifth in Serie A and the Europa League semi-finals before being replaced by Jose Mourinho at the end of his second season. This was a relative success, yet there was a sense of unfulfilled promise, with his side never quite clicking as they’d hoped. He later called his time there “beautiful but difficult” in an interview with the Athletic, also saying he would have stayed if he’d had the choice.
Fonseca moved back to Ukraine in 2021, just before the Russian invasion, spending the next year as the constant second or third choice for a series of top jobs after fleeing back to Lisbon. He remains outspoken on the war, posting a social media statement in which he criticised Braga and Benfica for potentially selling players to Russia, writing: “The money will come dripping blood from the children that die every day in Ukraine”.
Throughout the year, he was the subject of interest from Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United before they hired Nuno Espirito Santo and Eddie Howe respectively, and has also been linked with Everton and West Ham previously, feeling for some time like another big European name who would never quite get their move to the Premier League.
The 50-year-old believed he had secured the Spurs job before the introduction of Fabio Paratici lead to a shift in philosophy towards a more defensive-minded coach.
“I have some principles,” Fonseca told The Telegraph. “I wanted to be coach of the great teams but I want the right project and a club where the people believe in my ideas, my way to play, and this didn’t happen with the managing director.”
As Fonseca has said on multiple occasions, including to i in a 2022 interview, he has always wanted to coach in England, saying on Wednesday: “I have to confess it is very attractive the championship in England, with the best coaches, with the best teams, with the best players.”
He has also said he agrees with Cristiano Ronaldo’s assertion that the quality in the Saudi Pro League is higher than Ligue 1.
Yet for now, he is into his second season at Lille, where he has drawn attention for his attractive, incisive football. Lille were unbeaten for nearly three months at the turn of the year and are now fourth, which should result in Champions League qualification.
They have beaten Marseille and Monaco this season and defeated Paris Saint-Germain, with Canada striker Jonathan David the league’s second-highest goal scorer on 16 goals.
Fonseca will now have an audition in front of an English audience over the next eight days, visiting Villa Park on Thursday evening before hosting Unai Emery’s side in northern France a week later.
Fonseca’s tactics and how he would fit in at West Ham
Fonseca’s preferred formation is a 4-2-3-1, focussed on effective possession and exploiting space wherever possible. Yet he has recently switched to a 4-3-3 with Lille and regularly used a three-man defence at Roma, highlighting that he’s not so much wedded to a formation as he is his philosophical principles.
These principles would mark a definite departure from the soporific tedium of “Moyesball”, which has triggered fan discontent at West Ham despite the club winning the Conference League and remaining in contention for European football next season.
Before the game at Villa Park, Fonseca said: “The essence of this team is to control the game, to keep the pressure, and to win the ball back high up the pitch, but above all, it’s about controlling the game by dominating possession. We strive to be a team that is dominant, and that reacts quickly when we lose the ball.”
And he told The Athletic earlier this year: “Our game is attraction. We want teams to press us so that we can find space. And so we take many risks. Especially when we build up because our first phase – with our different structures and how we accelerate and decelerate the game – is what allows us to dominate.
“This type of game is not for weak players. The players have to know they will make mistakes, but I always insist they try.
“They know they can fail, but only within the intentions of the team. If it goes wrong, then it’s my fault.”
There’s something quite Bazball about this philosophy of calculated risk towards a common goal, the idea that losing is acceptable so along as you tried to win in the right way.
Fonseca explained this in greater detail: “We have an obligation with supporters to create a spectacle, a good show. That is the obligation of the coach. I want to win every game but just winning is not enough for me. I have to be offensive and dominate the games and have an offensive midfield and show courage in the game. These are things which will die with me.
“It happened so many times when I got home after winning a game and my wife asked ‘why are you unhappy?’ And it is because I didn’t win the way I wanted to. It is not enough. I have to create a good show for the people who pay the tickets and love football. At least I try. I cannot be a coach in another way.”
Henrikh Mkhitaryan also praised Fonseca’s flexibility with players in an Athletic interview, saying: ““He is a bit similar to Thomas Tuchel. He tries to put the players in the best positions to allow them to play their own style of game freely.”
This outlook has allowed Fonseca to develop some of the finest young talent in Europe across his various stints, heavily contributing to the breakthroughs of Jota, Mykhailo Mudryk and Brighton midfielder Carlos Baleba. His current Lille squad includes Real Madrid and Chelsea target Leny Yoro, an 18-year-old centre-back, and 16-year-old attacking midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi.
While Fonseca certainly would not be a continuity appointment at the London Stadium, the current players could fit his 4-2-3-1 nicely. Jarrod Bowen could continue his role as a central striker in the mold of David, while Mohammed Kudus could fill Edon Zhegrova’s shoes on the right wing. Fonseca’s sides often rely on an elite No 10, while Lucas Paqueta could be his best yet if the Brazilian sticks around for next season.
The biggest weakness in West Ham’s squad is probably at full-back, often a key position in Fonseca’s sides. He tends to want one or both or his wide defenders to push up the pitch and he uses it as a crucial attacking outlet, so may want to pursue stronger options than Emerson Palmieri and Vladimir Coufal.
But more than anything, Fonseca would want to make his mark on West Ham, build a squad in his own image and be given significant control. He would be more than capable of doing the job if allowed to and would certainly bring more excitement than Moyes without losing the propensity for cup runs which have become commonplace in east London.