Sporting Life
Fulham's Joao Palhinha

João Palhinha: Fulham's defensive midfield monster

By FootballTransfers
15:05 · SAT November 04, 2023

After his deadline-day move to Bayern Munich collapsed, João Palhinha didn’t create a fuss and just got on with his business.

"I feel happy. A lot of history happened these few weeks for me, but I'm just focused on my work at Fulham and I always have 100 percent commitment with this club,” he told Fulham TV.

This has always been how he operates, right from his time at Sporting CP, where Palhinha focused on the job at hand and helped the club to their first league title in 20 years.

Palhinha’s performances won him a move to the Premier League, and he has been an absolute revelation for Fulham. His dominant defensive displays in the middle of the park helped the club to an impressive top-half finish after their promotion from the Championship.

In the Fulham squad this season, he ranks first for tackles and recoveries, joint-first for goals scored, second for blocks and interceptions, and fifth for final-third passes and aerials won amongst players who have played at least 450 minutes.

Interest from top European clubs will continue to come in, but Palhinha is just too important and valuable for Marco Silva to let go that easily.

What next for Joao Palhinha?

The riches of the Premier League mean that a mid to lower-table club would rather keep hold of their star players, than face a battle for survival in the league.

It was no wonder that the Cottagers rejected Bayern’s massive €65 million bid, despite it being over three times what the club paid just a year before.

One might wonder why Joao Palhinha signed a new contract right after his dream move to Bayern failed to go through. But such is the high-stakes nature of professional football.

Fulham's Joao Palhinha

With no guarantee that another big club will come back in for him, the Portuguese International decided to take up the significant pay rise on offer. In the process, Fulham were also able to preserve his value by locking him in until 2028.

There is said to be no release clause in Palhinha’s new contract, but a gentleman's agreement might be in place that could see him leave for the right price.

Joao Palhinha Transfer Value - how much is he worth?

According to our Player Valuation Model, Palhinha’s Expected Transfer Value (xTV) is currently €29.1million. He was valued at €11.4million at the time of his transfer from Sporting CP, but that has more than doubled since.

There are reports that Thomas Tuchel will come back for Palhinha as early as January, but Fulham are in an even stronger position than before, and it will take a huge fee to praise him away from West London.

Joao Palhinha a defensive midfield monster

Palhinha is a true number six, tasked with doing the dirty work to protect the backline, allowing more attacking players to commit to the attack. And he is elite.

He has made the most tackles in the league with 45 this season, eight more than the next best. That comes out to 6.3 tackles on a 90-minute basis, which is more than the league-high 4.26 per 90 minutes he made last season.

His excellent reading of the game makes it almost impossible to dribble past him, and puts him in the top 1% of Premier League midfielders with the most dribblers tackled. This ability means his side can commit more players forward, knowing that Palhinha will be able to handle any transitions.

Palhinha’s 8.38 ball recoveries, 2.23 interceptions and 2.09 blocks per 90 all rank him amongst the best compared to positional peers in the league, and shows just what a defensive monster he is.

The Fulham number 26 is also good at aerial duels, as his 1.90-metre frame also helps him win an impressive 1.53 aerials per 90.

All of this is extremely invaluable in a holding midfielder, as it allows the manager to be flexible in possession. It is no wonder that teams such as Liverpool and Bayern were interested in having his skill set on the pitch.

Although the Portuguese does not have the best passing stats, that is down to the fact that Fulham don’t usually have much of the ball. But his 5.44 completed long balls and 0.77 switches per 90 shows a great passing range which will be highlighted even more in a possession dominant team.

Palhinha is in his prime years and rarely gets injured. Players like him who can break up opposition attacks, organise the build-up and launch attacking transitions are needed in every modern team.

There are few in the world who can do that as well as him.

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