Palhinha is keen to play alongside Pedro Porro at Tottenham Hotspur as he eyes trophies
Tottenham Hotspur have officially brought in Joao Palhinha from Bayern Munich in what is an initial loan transfer, which ends up giving the Lilywhites some much-needed depth in the middle of the park going into the 2025/26 Premier League campaign.
The 30-year-old will be moving to North London on what will initially be a season-long loan, but Daniel Levy and his chiefs will have an option to make his arrival a permanent one in twelve months’ time (next summer).
The Portuguese midfielder has not enjoyed a lot of shining performances in Bundesliga, which proved to be a bit challenging for him after moving to Bayern from Fulham last year in a deal that cost the German giants around £47 million.
Tottenham get one of the best in Palhinha
Given that the North Londoners supporters have been compounding on their request to bring in a new midfielder along the summer owing to the inconsistencies that we have seen from the current options along the season, Palhinha will be a crucial addition and definitely would be a substantial upgrade in Thomas Frank’s roster.
He is someone who has that impressive tackling ability and is a physical presence in the middle of the park, and that shows when you look at stats, given that he ranks among the best defensive midfielders in seasons in the English top tier despite spending the past year abroad. Indeed, if we start looking at the numbers since the beginning of the 2022/23 season, only Moises Caicedo and Idrissa Gueye have had more tackles in the English top tier, showing the significant impact that the Lilywhites supporters (and Thomas Frank) would be hoping that Palhinha can bring to the side.
Palhinha looking for Porro reunion
And as he penned down his contract at N17, one of the first things that Palhinha spoke about was his excitement to link up once again with Pedro Porro. Both of them have played in the same team with Sporting CP before, and they enjoyed a lot of success together back in Portugal, where they won the Liga Portugal title.
Now, Palhinha hopes that relinking up with Porro will bring a similar sort of glory to Tottenham (via. SpursOfficial):
“We played at Sporting together, we won the league there, we have great memories together.
“I told him when I spoke to him in the last few weeks that I hope to win titles again with him. For me, he’s a top player, one of the best right-backs as well, and I’m really motivated to win titles with him again.”
Bringing in Palhinha is a big step towards having a fully capable roster going into next season. Where do you think Levy should be focusing on reinforcing next? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
