Tottenham has officially signed a contract with midfielder Joao Palhinha of Bayern Munich under a loan contract that lasts a season.
The 30 -year -old, who joined the German team from Fulham in 2024, pointed out 17 times at the Bundesliga last season. Despite becoming a redundant at the Allianz Arena, the talent and class of the Portuguese player still attracted the attention of many teams, including Tottenham.
Spurs's coach, Thomas Frank, really wanted to sign a contract with a defensive midfielder after being appointed when he still had many doubts about the future of Yves Bissouma and Rodrigo Bentancur.
“We are delighted to announce the signing of a borrowing contract Joao Palhinha from Bayern, depending on the work permit and international license. The 30 -year -old Portuguese will join the club on the form of loan until the end of the 2025/26 season with the official contract option next summer,” Tottenham's homepage said.
Palhinha started his professional career at Sporting Lisbon, launching the club's B team at the age of 18 before debuting the first team in January 2017. In the early years of his career, he also accumulated experience on loan at Moreirense, Belenenses and Braga. In Braga, Joao played an important role in winning the National Cup of 2019/20.
Returning to Sporting Lisbon in 2020, he helped the team win the Portuguese championship 2020/21 – the first championship of the club after 19 years, and was honored in the typical Primeira Liga squad of 2020 thanks to excellent performances. During the Sporting Lisbon coat, he also helped the club win two titles of the National Cup and Super Cup.
In 2022, Joao moved to the Premier League and joined Fulham. He quickly became one of the best defensive midfielders in the tournament and was honored as the best player of Fulham right after the first season. In two seasons at Craven Cottage, he played 79 times for the West London team, scored 8 goals and had more ball more than any other player in the Premier League.
His stable and classy performance at Fulham helped him move to Bayern in July 2024, where he was part of the team winning the Bundesliga championship last season.
On the international level, Joao has made a debut in Portugal in 2021 and since then has 34 caps playing the national team, participating in EURO 2020, 2024, World Cup 2022. He is a member of Seleccao that has raised the UEFA Nations League in June.