Bayern Munich are prepared to go again for Joao Palhinha in the next transfer window after failing to snap up the Fulham man before the market closed in Germany.
The Bavarians are understood to have €70m [£60.1m] available to fund said transfer, should they strike another agreement with the Cottagers in the winter, as was reported by Christian Falk.
“In the case of Joao Palhinha, however, Bayern wants to attack again in the winter. Fulham didn’t want to sell him in the summer because they couldn’t find a replacement,” the German journalist wrote in his exclusive column for CaughtOffside.
“But Palhinha told the bosses on his return trip from Munich to London that he wants to go to Munich in the winter. And only to Munich. The bosses want to fulfil his wish.
“After the sale of Ryan Gravenberch to Liverpool and Benjamin Pavard to Inter Milan, Bayern have €70m available for this objective.”
The incumbent Bundesliga champions have effectively left themselves a man short after selling Ryan Gravenberch to Liverpool, though it should be noted that Thomas Tuchel’s men were not in desperate need of a spare No.8.
It’s a loss they will take gladly – at the very least from the perspective of their German head coach – with funds now available to land the extra holding midfielder the former Chelsea boss had been desperately craving.
Registering in the 99th percentile for tackles, not to mention the 89th and 91st percentiles for clearances and aerials won, according to FBref, it’s certainly not hard to see why the former Sporting midfielder is so admired.
Even when accounting for those numbers to be skewed slightly by the amount of firefighting the 28-year-old must have to do in the Fulham midfield compared to a comparatively more elite department, one has to imagine the figures are at least partly transferrable.
Only time will answer that particular question should Bayern get their man in a few months’ time.