After a relatively successful loan spell at Tottenham, Bayern Munich’s João Palhinha is in search of a new destination as the North Londoners have now made it clear they do not plan on activating the buy-on clause that was attached to his loan deal. Additionally, the Portuguese midfielder would be facing a tough battle for any type of minutes in a crowded midfield at Bayern under Vincent Kompany, so he’s looking for another club at the moment.
Per information from Sky Sports News editor Lyall Thomas,
Palhinha could be set for a move back to Sporting Lisbon, where he played before he made the move to Fulham in the Premier League, gaining prominence. Even before the Premier League season was over and Tottenham avoided relegation to the English Championship, Sporting Lisbon had been monitoring Palhinha’s situation, knowing that Tottenham were not yet sure whether they would buy him at the end of his Bayern loan spell. Sporting were also aware that Palhinha didn’t likely have a future at Bayern, even with the departure of Leon Goretzka at the end of the season.
At Tottenham, they’ve already brought in Mateus Fernandes from West Ham United and they’ve also agreed a deal to sign Sandro Tonali from Newcastle United, so Roberto De Zerbi’s midfield is getting more crowded, hence why they did not want to pursue the buy-on clause for Palhinha. They’ve also already brought in Jan Paul an Hecke from Brighton and Hove Albion for roughly 60 million euros, so there’s not much budget left to make too many more expensive signings – free transfers a la Andy Robertson from Liverpool and Marcos Senesi from Bournemouth are more along the lines of what they can afford after already making some big signings.
Reflecting back, the 30 million euro buy-on clause attached to Palhinha’s loan spell from Bayern seemed like a considerable fee at the time without the foresight of knowing how poorly Tottenham’s season was going to go, but they’ve invested a decent amount in Tonali and Fernandes to try to revamp their midfield. If Tottenham had fared far better last season, the conversation and decision around Palhinha could have been far different for 30 million euros.
Join the conversation!
Sign up for a user account and get:
- New, improved notifications system!
- Fewer ads
- Create community posts
- Comment on articles, community posts
- Rec comments, community posts
