Should Spurs push for Palhinha permanently?
- Published
A key part of Tottenham's midfield planning for next season will be whether Joao Palhinha's loan from Bayern Munch is made permanent.
There have been conflicting reports over whether Palhinha will remain in North London, with stories in BBC Sport's Gossip column, external earlier this week suggesting he will instead try and engineer a move to Sporting.
However, Fabrizo Romano reported on Monday, external that the midfielder has given "priority" to Spurs, "as the feeling with Roberto de Zerbi is very good".
Despite Tottenham's poor season, it could have ended far worse had it not been for Palhinha's performances and late season goalscoring heroics.
Of their seven matches under De Zerbi after his appointment at the end of March, Spurs won three games - two of which were 1-0 wins thanks to scrappy Palhinha goals from set-pieces, including on the all-important final day over Everton which secured survival. In other words, six of the 11 points won under the Italian were thanks to goals from the 30-year-old.
To illustrate Spurs' attacking woes, Palhinha's five league goals was the second-highest in the squad.
But, it is not just his goals that could make a permanent move attractive.
The Portugal international led the Spurs squad in tackles (110), tackles won (66) and duels won (193) across the 2025-26 campaign, despite only starting 23 games.
He is not, however, just a midfield destroyer. Palhinha is also capable of progressing the ball and the play. No Tottenham midfielder made more passes (1044), forward passes (314) or attacking line-breaking passes (55) than him.
Now, it must be stressed that he recorded these number in an under-performing Spurs side and he was still a part of a side that came very close to a historic and humiliating relegation.
Spurs fans, we want to hear from you. Do you want Palhinha to stay? Why? And how did you rate his loan spell?
