Rui Pedro da Rocha Fonte is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward or a right winger for S.C. Braga. After signing for Arsenal as a 16-year-old, he only made one competitive appearance for the club before signing with Sporting, who loaned him several times for the duration of his contract, including at Espanyol who acquired him permanently in 2011. He subsequently joined Benfica, where injury problems saw him feature sparingly until his release; with his next team, Braga, he notably won the 2016 Portuguese Cup. All youth levels comprised, Fonte earned 69 caps for Portugal, scoring 26 goals.
Club career
Early years / Arsenal
Fonte was born in Lisbon, and joined Sporting CP's youth system at only nine. In 2006 he signed a three-year contract with Arsenal, with a clause stating he was to return to his previous club if the English did not extend the contract beyond the original period. A regular member of Arsenal's reserves, Fonte made his debut for the first team in a friendly against Barnet in the 2008 pre-season. He made his competitive debut for the Gunners as a substitute for Carlos Vela in a League Cup match against Wigan Athletic on 11 November 2008, a 3–0 home win. On 30 January 2009, Fonte signed for Championship side Crystal Palace on a one-month loan, with his older brother José playing a big role in persuading club and player of each other's merits. He made his debut for his new team in a 0–1 home defeat to Blackpool on the following day, and his loan was subsequently extended until the end of the season; Palace were docked a point and fined £20,000 for fielding him in their final match, despite his loan having expired. On 19 May 2009, it was announced that Arsenal had decided not to extend Fonte's three-year contract, and the player returned to Sporting. He spent the 2009–10 campaign on loan to Vitória de Setúbal, making his Primeira Liga debut on 17 August in a 0–0 home draw against Vitória de Guimarães and appearing sparingly during the campaign as the former barely escaped relegation.
Espanyol
Fonte played 2010–11 on loan to RCD Espanyol, in Spain. He spent the vast majority of his spell with the reserves, his first La Liga appearances consisting of one minute in a 1–0 home win over Sporting de Gijón on 5 December 2010, and ten in a 0–1 loss to Real Madrid also at the Estadi Cornellà-El Prattwo months later. On 14 July 2011, Fonte signed permanently for Espanyol for two years. On 17 January of the following year he scored his first official goal for the Pericos, in a 3–2 home win against CD Mirandés for the quarter-finals of the Copa del Rey– he also netted in the second leg, albeit in a 1–2 and 4–4 aggregate loss; in between he scored his first goal in the league, closing the scoresheet in a 3–0 home success over Granada CF.
Benfica
On 29 January 2013, Fonte terminated his contract with Espanyol and, on the next day, signed with S.L. Benfica on a five-and-a-half-year contract. He was initially assigned to the B-team in the Segunda Liga, suffering a knee injury in his debut against C.F. União and being sidelined for the rest of the campaign. In January 2015, Jorge Jesus confirmed that Fonte was promoted to Benfica's first team after the loan of Nélson Oliveira. His first competitive appearance took place on the 14th, as he played the first half of the 4–0 home win against F.C. Arouca for the third round of the Taça da Liga. On 2 February 2015, Fonte, at the time second level top scorer for Benfica B with 17 goals in 21 matches, was loaned to C.F. Os Belenenses, until the end of the season. For 2015–16, he moved to S.C. Braga also on loan.
Braga
On 16 December 2015, after having replaced Wilson Eduardo for the last 11 minutes of regulation time, Fonte scored the 4–3 winner for the hosts against Sporting, helping oust his former club from the Taça de Portugal. The following 22 May, after being injured for nearly three months, he started in the final of the domestic cup, netting in a 2–2 draw against FC Porto. On 1 September 2016, Fonte signed a three-year contract with Braga. He scored 11 goals during the campaign, helping to a fifth-place finish.
On 17 August 2017, Fonte transferred to Championship club Fulham after agreeing to a three-year contract. He scored in his second league appearance, a 2–0 away win over Ipswich Town. On 31 August2018, Fonte joined Lille OSC from France on a season-long loan, reuniting with his older brother José Fonte. His only goal for the eventual Ligue 1 runners-up came on 28 April 2019, in a 5–0 home defeat of Nîmes Olympique.
Return to Braga
Fonte returned to his homeland and Braga on 21 August 2019, signing a three-year deal.
Fonte's older brother, José, is also a footballer – a defender, he played most of his professional career in England, and the two were teammates at Sporting, Crystal Palace and Lille. Their father, Artur, played 12 seasons in the Portuguese top division.
