Fabrizio Romano expects Premier League star’s major transfer to Bayern Munich to go through
Transfer news journalist Fabrizio Romano has provided some insight into the Joao Palhinha situation as he now fully expects the Fulham midfielder to complete a move to Bayern Munich.
Speaking to CaughtOffside for his latest Daily Briefing column, Romano stated that Palhinha was not hoping for Fulham to give him the green light to join Bayern after he almost made the move there last summer before it fell through late on.
Romano says the Portugal international remained highly professional during the rest of the season with Fulham, always performing well on the pitch and in training and never causing any problems when the January transfer window came around.
It now seems Palhinha is hoping for Fulham to give something back to him for that and not make it too complicated for him to swap Craven Cottage for the Allianz Arena.
Palhinha transfer to Bayern now looks highly likely
Bayern made an initial proposal of around €35m for Palhinha, which won’t be enough, but it seems a deal can be done for closer to €45m, according to Romano.
Terms between the player and the Bundesliga giants won’t be an issue, however, and already seem to be agreed, so this one looks close now, even if it’s not a done deal yet.
“We can now say it looks like the Joao Palhinha to Bayern Munich deal is going to happen. Bayern have agreed personal terms with Palhinha – the contract is agreed, the salary is agreed, and Palhinha is super excited about the possibility to join Bayern,” Romano said.
“The initial Bayern proposal to Fulham was €35m plus add-ons, which Fulham rejected, but early next week the two clubs will talk again and the expectation is to reach an agreement for a fee of around €40-45m. Bayern will push again, but for now they have an agreement with Palhinha, and he expects Fulham to help him make this transfer to Bayern happen.
“Why? Because last summer a transfer for Palhinha to join Bayern was 99.9% done. On deadline day of summer 2023, Palhinha travelled to Munich and everything was set – even the pictures of Palhinha with a Bayern shirt. But then Fulham were not able to find a replacement, they wanted Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and other players but they were not able to make it happen, and so the deal collapsed.
“Since then, Palhinha was super professional – he didn’t complain about not being able to join Bayern, he played a fantastic season under Marco Silva, trained in a fantastic way, didn’t ask for a transfer in January, and so this is why Palhinha now expects Fulham to give the green light and let him go to Bayern.
“Let me clarify one final point – new Bayern manager Vincent Kompany has approved the Palhinha deal. The Portuguese midfielder was a target for Thomas Tuchel last summer, but Kompany also wants the player, Bayern have always been the most interested club, and I now expect this transfer to happen because there is big optimism around all parties involved to keep pushing and make this transfer happen soon.”
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