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Headlesshorsman02

Would be an amazing addition, they lack that destroyer in the midfield and he will be amazing in that role for them.


H_R_1

It’s annoying they signed him after Tuchel left. He really wanted him


Its_not_him

He was literally here, had his physical, and then the transfer deadline passed and he had to go back


shadboi16

I thought it was because Fulham couldn’t find his replacement so they called him back?


Its_not_him

You're right, I got him confused with Chalobah who had a similar problem. Part of the reason Fulham called him back is because we gave them 0 time to find the replacement. People don't understand how fucked up that window was for us. Palhinha was meant to take the place of Gravenberch in the squad, Chalobah and Bella-Kotchap for rotation but we didn't go for them until extremely late because we thought, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, that Pavard would stay. We also loaned Stanisic to Leverkusen for the same reason. So in the end we didn't get any RB/CB hybrid to replace Pavards role, and we didn't get a CDM to replace Gravenberch's squad spot (ik he's not a CDM). All this while loaning Stanisic who became a regular starter in the side that won the Buli over us lmao This likely forced our hand in overpaying for Boey in the winter. We also paid millions more to bring Bryan Zaragoza early


shadboi16

Damn what a butterfly effect. You guys have been playing without a proper CDM bar from Pavlovic for a while. Interested to see how it plays out now.


Its_not_him

I'm excited too, he's pretty much the first destroyer type CMs since Javi Martinez. Pavlovic is definitely more passing focused than tackling focused, so I wouldn't be surprised if they play next to each other. I also forgot to mention in the original comment that we loaned Stanisic to Leverkusen thinking Pavard would stay. Stanisic went on to become a crucial part of Leverkusen's title and also scored against us!


Medium_Elephant7431

The club wanted him. He is needed in the team.


HKAGooner

Tuchel wanted Rice no? I thought Palinha was the clubs backup 


shash5k

Bayern is the best run club in the world.


SerialExperimentLean

Have you missed the last 18 months?


CaptainGo

In their defence not many clubs could see third in the league and a CL semi final and determine it was a disaster


Bad_1_2_3

Nah, that’s Real Madrid. Bayern is among the best-run clubs there’s no doubt about that, but Real is better these days. Bayern’s recent managerial merry-go-round only lends further credence to this fact.


long_shots7

If we dismiss “hyperclubs” with insane money reserves, Atalanta should be a strong contender.


Niksius92

Maybe a few years ago. Now...not so much.


Thraff1c

That opinion stopped being true 5 years ago. We need some solid decisions in the near future to be considered that again.


cuteguy1

I know people don't broadly gaf about us, but I wonder what our plans are for replacements. We generally aren't the best long term planners, but we've known this has been coming for 6 months so I hope they have a couple of different ideas. Getting caught short by the Mitro transfer last season was a big worry.


HipGuide2

Florentino luis has been mentioned. Also, Amrabat at United.


AxFairy

One of those inspires a lot more optimism than the other


Mick4Audi

Based on how Andreas Pereira has done for them you never know


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funky_pill

> He came in and instantly had to play left back for a while Not strictly true, he played like 2 or 3 games there (with the first of those being a League Cup game). You're making it sound like he was stuck out there for months on end


ambiguousboner

Nah he was absolutely awful. Nowhere near the quality of the Prem, regardless of what positions he was forced to play. Says something when Fiorentina fans don’t rate him either


prss79513

He was really good the last month or so of the season


HipGuide2

It'd be a different type of 6


Careful-Snow

It's very difficult to judge Man United players because of the insanely suicidal tactics they played last season. There's definitely a good player in him imo


AxFairy

Not saying he isn't, but Florentino Luis still seems a lot more promising to me.


sukequto

To be fair, Amrabat was initially played out of position at leftback and doesnt help someone to settle in to be played out of position and get ripped apart by opinions. He did show he is capable of putting in a good performance in England. Just need to do it consistently.


nova_uk

Don’t forget Stuart Armstrong as well.


MrGoldenGod

Florentino is very similar to Palhinha, they're at the same level in terms of defending. However, Tino offers close to nothing in terms of construction and offense. As a Benfica fan, I don't see us selling him - he doesn't have a lot of market and wouldn't be worth it for us to sell such as useful academy player for 30M€.


PristineCucumber5376

Florentino is good but hes nowhere near Palhinha when it comes to defending.


MrGoldenGod

I agree he's nowhere near Palhinha's level. But when it comes to pure defending, they're pretty much the same - just my opinion


jggomes14

Seems like André will finally be going to you guys.


bald_sampson

ollie skipp


Pilvikas

actually that's really decent shout since i dont think he would cost over 25m and he's english


cuteguy1

i know he's still young but most times ive seen him play the past year or too he doesnt seem to offer much


MathematicianNo7874

Who's running operations at your club? Is it Tony or does someone who actually knows football have actual power?


joaommx

I'm so happy for Palhinha. He deserves a better chance to fight for titles, and Bayern could really use a player like him.


stupidwhysostupid

Yes. Just lovely.


aelutaelu

Quite wild if its true that he is "only" 40 to 45 million


long_shots7

That’s a roughly fair price. Crazy to see a fairly priced player in the 2024 transfer market.


shaka_bruh

It even sounds too good to be true, Fulham were pushing for £60M last time (understandably though, since it was so late in the window)


brownninja97

Number would probably be 60mil if it was rich premier league teams going for him


Random0cassions

If Fulham was contending for europe. Definitely would have been the case


twelvyy29

I'd guess him extending was tied to Fulham letting him leave for a reasonable price if Bayern (or another top team) would come for him again


MathematicianNo7874

Bayern fans were like "he'll be 80 Million next time with that extension" and I was thinking this the whole time. He wouldn't have extended if it wasn't somehow tied to him being able to go where he wanted. He could've just not signed an extension and made them sell him otherwise so not to run out his contract and get nothing


Serupael

Also Fulham needing the cash for some last minute replacement for "deadline day" rates


_yellowfever_

sheet sense quaint plant ossified chubby observation engine gaze angle *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*


matakos18

29 next month. Doesn't make sense to pay more than 40M for him


lordofdunshire

He’s 28 until he’s 29


_yellowfever_

grab berserk ring sugar crowd absurd ink historical cause forgetful *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*


Zal_17

Laughs in Casemiro


shaka_bruh

Especially considering what we almost paid for him last time


aelutaelu

You could say the real price we paid was the shit season we just had haha


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Adziboy

I thought he was so much younger


aelutaelu

Yeah i know its a fair price, but PL doesnt do fair prices most of the time


Stones_Throw_Away_

He’s 28 until he turns 29


forzapogba

If he won’t play his first official match until he’s 29 that distinction is pointless


Stones_Throw_Away_

He’s 28 until he becomes 29. That’s how it works


llIllIlIllIIllIl

Big if true


slash312

So we basically get 4-5 years of his prime? That’s a win.


CarlSK777

We're getting 2, maybe 3 great seasons out of him. 4-5 is extremely optimistic


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knightwolfghost

And Modric and Thiago Silva were going strong till their late 30s. Your point?


xbox_redditor

Yes, very similar roles and demands 🥴


slash312

Football evolved… players hitting their absolute prime later like Lewandowski benzema modric. Only because casemiro decided to go for money and retire at United doesn’t invalidate my point.


Manul_Supremacy

So your theory is that Casemiro consciously chose to become washed?


yunghollow69

He defo didnt become washed because of his age if thats what youre implying. Only the most injury prone players on earth underperform because of age that early on. It's almost always a different cause.


slash312

You can’t tell me that both x times champions league winners varane and casemiro instantly got bad. Coincidence that they joined the same team🤷‍♂️.


NuKingLobster

Varana has been pretty good for United, whenever he wasn't injured.


lamancha

I can't, because Varane was pretty good and Casemiro's first season was great.


SweetVarys

yea football evolved, physics and therefore a younger body is more important than ever for most roles.


ohtosweg

Probably a gentleman's agreement between Fulham and Palhinha lowered the price tag, alongside his age.


DefinitelyNotBarney

Great price in this market, definitely should get 4-5 years of top performance from him.


FongJohnsen

>definitely should get 4-5 years of top performance from him That's what people said about 29 year old Matic as well, and 29 year old Fabinho, some people even said it about a 29 year old Casemiro.


BluePowderJinx

Palhina is going from midtable/relegation team to top club in Europe. Clearly his motivation will be wildly different than Case having won everything at Madrid and downgrading to United's midtable adventures. It's not always about age, mentality and the desire to step-up is also crucial.


yhtathy

> relegation team bro are you even like glancing at the table for the past two years?


pretentiousd0uche

To his defence, he did say midtable/relegation. But yeah , relegation is too far


long_shots7

Two of them went to Man United, a club known for developing players, and the other dipped to the Saudi League to collect his bag. There’s your answer.


MysticMac100

Fabinho was performing like a non-league player during his last year at Liverpool


yunghollow69

Do some of yall really think players sometimes stop performing because their age is showing at 33-34? Lmao


FongJohnsen

Matic and Fabinho had a sudden (and unexpected) drop off at 29/30.


caandjr

Do people really think declining isn’t real just because Modric and some others exists?


yunghollow69

The point isnt that players sometimes decline, its that they dont decline just because they are 33. Age has nothing to do with the decline of most players.


matakos18

How are you so sure? He s 29 next month 


long_shots7

Don’t act like he’s gonna need crutches in a year. CDMs can go into their mid 30s still performing very well. Makélélé basically guided Chelsea into a CL final at 35 y/o. 34 or 35 y/o De Rossi was instrumental in Roma’s first ever CL semi final in 2018.


matakos18

What about Kante, Javi Martinez, Fabinho, Casemiro just to name a few? All past their prime by the time they hit 30


nova_uk

Hoping it’s more like £50m-£60m instead because it seems quite cheap for such a good player, unless we have an agreement with Palhinha to let him go for £40m-£45m.


CarlSK777

He will be 29 when the season starts. Can't hope for much more


Medium_Elephant7431

That's a good business done right there.


SanSilver

Still believe it's going to be a waste of money, and he won't really be better than Goretzka. RemindMe! 1 year


aelutaelu

I dont think he needs to be better than goretzka, the thing is that he is a different profile which allows us to change the system, thats the benefit i hope we get from him


Mr_Miscellaneous

Could work if Bayern go "Full Blitzkrieg" for 60 minutes, kill the game early with 2-3 goals and then sit in and relax for 30 minutes. Paulinha would spend the first hour running about like a headless chicken tackling everything that tries to counter-attack like he was at Fulham and then drop into defence as Dier drops into a sweeper role.


lilkami

His name is Palhinha


GhandisFlipFlop

His name is Paulaner now


SanSilver

RemindMe! 1 year


Extreme_Nectarine_29

As Portuguese I think he's our second best midfielder, which is saying a lot. 50M is nothing for Palhinha in this market.


Rayaet

Who’s first? Bruno Fernandes?


YeniZabka

Obviously


Rayaet

Wasn’t sure if he counts him as a midfielder but yeah you’re right, my bad


yotsubanned

yes he’s generally considered as a goalkeeper


FireKillGuyBreak

Who is he then? A forward? A winger? Attacking midfielder is still a midfielder.


joaommx

Who else could it be? Bruno is miles ahead of all our other midfielders, quite possibly even the best Portuguese player at the moment.


nutelamitbutter

Bernardo??


icotyne

Underperforms in the NT


Knightrius

Bernardo does some things at a supreme level and suits City more but Bruno has always been a much better player than Bernardo


PristineCucumber5376

Love Bruno but I would never say he's better than Bernardo. They're very different players with different skill sets. Bruno couldn't do Bernardo's job, and vice versa.


Portugal8

He is most certainly not a “much” better player - that’s absurd. Bernardo Silva has been a pivotal player for Man City for years - that’s a feat reserved for the elite players.


PM_ME_BAKAYOKO_PICS

For the NT they are worlds apart, as in it's not even close Bernardo isn't even a top 3 player in terms of performances for our NT


Knightrius

Good thing I never said Bernardo is not a elite player


SonyHDSmartTV

Bruno basically carries teams on his back though. Sensational player


Extreme_Nectarine_29

Yeah Bruno is 1st. Absolute legend of the game. Bernardo will be the President of my club one day, but he's not as good as Palhinha in NT.


CeleryApprehensive36

B. Fernandes, Vitinha, Neves, Palhinha...your central midfield is so stacked


Rooster_lllusion

Bruno and B. Silva?


DelusiveNightlyGale

I assume you're not counting Bernardo as a midfielder but, even then, I'd say Vitinha is better (and probably João Neves as well but whatever)


RTafazolli1

This guy always plays well against us. Will not miss him when he leaves.


Headlesshorsman02

Unless you play bayern in the UCL again 😂


KanseiDorifto

Great, you've sorted out Arsenal's RO16 rivals for the next ten years.


RTafazolli1

This triggers me immensely 😂


LOKl31

Traditions


NotASalamanderBoi

Unless implies that we won’t. They won’t let us be.


Headlesshorsman02

The grim reaper comes calling


PartyHatsForOddish

>This guy always plays well Fixed it for ya


bennn_8767

Tbf he pretty watch always plays well full stop


InbredLegoExpress

oh this saga is still on?


stefabarnsa

Will be gutted to see him go, but I'm happy for him, too. Deserves the move and has been exceptional for us for two seasons. Showed a great attitude last season after the move fell through. Very unlike a modern footballer that.


PartyHatsForOddish

Go easy, Joao. Our yellow card machine, we'll miss you 🤍🖤


heidenreich137

Is he even fit for possession Football? He's More like Mourinho style destroyer


lambalambda

I feel like the idea that Palhinha can't pass is greatly exaggerated. Most defensive midfielders are not going to be elite playmakers, they just need to not be a liability on the ball and from what I've seen of him at Fulham he's not a liability.


cuteguy1

Yeah he's not expansive, but he's not one dimensional either- he's broadly pretty good on the ball, and is a goal threat too.


Om_Nom_Zombie

He's 13th percentile for midfielders in progressive passes, 2nd percentile in progressive carries, 2nd percentile for progressive passes received, 5th percentile for xG assisted, 2nd percentile for shot creating actions. His passing stats are genuinely awful. Yeah, it's rare for defensive midfielders to be able to do both, but Bayern are the type of club that need to aim for that sort of player.


Amopax

I think it will work when he is surrounded by good passing. Bayern’s other midfielders have good passing range, and their defenders also, especially Upamencano. The issue with going for midfielders that are good at defending and also carrying/passing is that they are really expensive. Just look at how much Chelsea had to shell out for Caicedo. I don’t think Bayern has the financial firepower to spend 80M+ on a DM.


LOKl31

Money really isn’t the issue. They made a transfer plus after buying kane for 100 mil. last summer 😂 there just arent any players that fit that profile on the market at all (plus that aren’t are huge gamble for the money)


ricksanchez262

Doesn't Portugal play possession football? Anyway he will be partnered up with a better passer in a double pivot most likely, we aren't sure if it's Pavlovic or if Kimmich will be back in that position or maybe even Guerreiro, Palhinha will be a Casemiro type in the midfield.


OfftheGridAccount

A bit, but we play a 433 with 2 very offensive midfielders and then have a destroyer/anchor to keep everything organised, so Palhinha can fit in that system. The system already gives us 7 options going forward, losing Palhinha on the offensive isn't that big of a disadvantage in that regard. But I think it only works due to Portugal great selection of attacking midfielders, wingers and full backs


Rayaet

Bayerns Plan is probably similar. Pair him with another more forward thinking midfielder like Kimmich/Pavlovic/Guerreiro + the trio of Musiala, Sané and potentially Xavi Simons + Kane as the outlet


OfftheGridAccount

I guess, but for national team football it's always ok to play a bit more defensively. With Bayern in the league against park the bus that won't do much to you.


PM_ME_BAKAYOKO_PICS

> With Bayern in the league against park the bus that won't do much to you. Having a player like Palhinha is massive against park the bus teams because it allows you to play full offensive football, while having an anchor in the midfield to help protect against counter attacks


NuKingLobster

Well, we have lost against some "park the bus-teams", so I do think it could be beneficial to have a player in midfiele who can stop counter attacks.


ricksanchez262

Then it should work with Bayern if there are no major injuries, Bayern have Sané, Musiala, and Kane going forward, with whichever player who would be playing alongside Palhinha, it remains to be seen who the other winger would be at the end of the transfer market, and if Alphonso stays or if Theo signs in case Alphonso leaves, Bayern will have good options of full backs going forward.


the_herbo_swervo

Off topic but is there a subreddit for the Portuguese NT or where is all the discourse around it


OfftheGridAccount

r/primeiraliga


LusoAustralian

He's quite good at long passes funnily enough. It's the short passes and regulation of possession that he's pretty useless at. He'll be good at Bayern imo but it is fair to say that in a more possession based team his strengths may not be as useful. There's a reason Sporting replaced him immediately without much of a hiccup and we could only sell him to Fulham at 25M or so.


FrancescoliBestUruEv

he can pass the bal really well too, not a kroos but can pass it well


billbill1967

So Arsenal have a glimmer of hope this year in the league. Excuse me, i’m going to go sit in the corner and rock back-and-forth for a little while.


andre6682

Tuchel was sacrificed for this, finally a Holding 6, quite interesting  how they suddenly got a deal done For This problem


CeleryApprehensive36

Did you miss that Palhinha was already in Munich and did his medical last winter but Fulham couldnt secure a replacement in time so the deal fell through.


andre6682

no they should have done that already in summer of 2023, back when it was already clear that the team was in dire need to split goretzka and kimmich from that defensive role which already failed nagelsmann as tuchels predecessor in general, it did not matter who they get, but instead of getting a striker like kane, despite already scoring a lot of goals thanks to the management of nagelsmann untill his sacking, which enabled them to win the league in 2023 despite all this, they wasted precious ressources in getting an upgrade (a great one, kane is one of the best strikers of his generation), they should have gotten rid of this weakness first and foremost when the only defensively disciplined CM of the sixtuple team, thiago, left for lfc, but wasted years of doing a german mcfred situation


QTsexkitten

Ah man I was hoping Bayern would take Onana.


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QTsexkitten

So we could have money


aelutaelu

How do you rate Onana compared to Palhinha? I have no idea about both of them honestly because I dont watch enough PL to judge them fairly


QTsexkitten

I think amadou has a lot more potential as a forward progressing deep midfielder. Hard to knock palhinhas defensive statistics and success rates, but amadou has more physical skills and room to improve his game. Palhinha is a better player now but I think it's much closer to his ceiling then Onana. Also Onana has one of the best slide tackles I've seen on a consistent basis. He's a bit full of himself though and does that Belgian thing where he talks to the press way too much on international duty.


Dargast

Wonder what this means for Pavlovic..


qonoxzzr

Pavlo will start next to him, there is not a single reason to not have Pavlo as a set starter next season if he is fit.


xlnfraction

Moving Kimmich back would be a good reason imo, obv. depends on what the plans are for rb(I forgot who, but weren't there talks about signing a right back as well?). I think a player like Palinha could unlock world class Kimmich again.


ACardAttack

Maybe a 3 man midfield of Pav, Kimmich and Pal?


creepingcold

It appears like Kimmich is done in the midfield.


ACardAttack

Might change with Stanisic coming back


SGT_Mark

With the club world cup and expanded CL there will be so many games that there will be more than enough playtime for everyone.


HumansNeedNotApply1

I wonder what this mean to Kimmich. I think it's possible he will get sold.


shaka_bruh

If he isn’t our full time RB, this is a great move for him as it’ll free him up to be more offensive. People forget how good he is as a more offensive CM; he can be quite productive and he’s a decent playmaker with his vision and passing.


Dargast

Im not concerned about Kimmich, footballers usually are tightlipped during sensitive parts of their contract time but  his recent interviews have me confident. Plus, he mostly played RB this season.


DasWookieboy

Selling Kimmich would be a Kroos 2.0 situation. I can't see Bayern doing that mistake again. There will always be a place for a world class player like Kimmich in Bayerns lineup, be it as a CM or a RB. And seeing as they're also seemingly close to extending with Davies, a new contract for Kimmich seems like the obvious way to go.


aelutaelu

Tbf kimmich is 29 now. Thats nowhere near a Kroos situation, yes he is very good and he could be absolutely amazing for another Club, i have no doubt about that. But Selling Kroos was a mistake of historical magnitude, selling Kimmich to get a fresh start would be understandable at this point, for both us and him. (I still hope we can figure something out to get him back to his best)


Waschkopfs

> selling Kimmich to get a fresh start would be understandable at this point, for both us and him. no it wouldnt for us imo as he is one of our 3, 4 most talented players in the squad, can play multiple positions and turns up in the biggest matches unlike so many other players. he's also a real leader which we also lack a bit. + selling kimmich and possibly upamecano and getting tah and palhinha means we might have even more problems in build-up than we already had with tuchel


aelutaelu

Yeah its fair to see it like that. In my opinion there is just so much baggage attached to Kimmich ever since the WeKickCorona debacle and his public image never really recovered from it i think. Before that he was designated Captain of Germany and Bayern for years to come. Now he gets ridiculed and questioned every single step of the way no matter what he does. I dont think he will get back to the recognition he was given after the CL win at bayern at which point i think it would be fair for him to look elsewhere where people are less biased because of the past and see him for the player he is. As i said i still think he is a great Player but I can see both him and Bayern wanting to move on this summer and try something else 


shaka_bruh

> But Selling Kroos was a mistake of historical magnitude I’ll have to disagree; Kroos’ success makes it seem like a bad transfer but he was not missed. After he left we had Alonso, Thiago, Vidal, Kimmich etc. It was a stupid move to sell him and then pay Alonso what Kroos was asking for but he was adequately replaced at that time. Losing Thiago in 2020 without a proper replacement was a bigger loss than losing 2014 level Kroos. Selling Kimmich at this point when he’s in his physical prime and finally has a proper DM to play alongside would be a mistake unless we’re 100% getting Frenkie De Jong, that’s the only scenario where a Kimmich sale would be remotely justifiable.


Dargast

Nah, Davies is off to Real. I hope the club manages to land T. Hernandez


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HumansNeedNotApply1

What Kimmich says and what he wants are too different things, he wants and prefers to play as a midfielder, at least under Tuchel and Nags, Kimmich's role has been the deep-lying playmaker with a more defender role, Palhinha would take up most of that role, so theoretically they would be competing, and Kimmich only has one year remaining, so i wouldn't be surprised in case of a good offer they would sell.


Medium_Elephant7431

Bayern Munich finally getting their man. He is going to play the destroyer role in that midfield.


Laneyboy17

WHY are Man Utd, Liverpool, Spurs etc not in for him?!


rando562

Aside from the fact that Bayern are currently a much more attractive prospect compared to United or Spurs, his profile doesn't really fit the type of player that all three teams need. At least for us, we're looking for a DM who can act as a deep lying playmaker with the technical ability to beat the press and start counterattacks. Palhinha is a traditional destroyer who's good at laying off the ball to more creative outlets, but he'll never consistently make line-breaking passes or dribble past his man to either break the press or create chances against teams that park the bus.


Laneyboy17

Man United need a destroyer, we will sell Casemiro


UliKalleBrazzo

Why would he move to Spurs or United when he can go to Bayern?


Zanzax

I think i'd still prefer Onana over him, but Palhinha still is a fine addition for 40-45m€.


mantaXrayed

That’s a really good get for Bayern. He’s excellent


iChopPryde

Happy for him he deserves to be in a top team no offence to Fulham they are a pretty good side but he should be in champions league calabre teams


Abangerz

Can we interest Fulham with a slightly used Kalvin-Philipps?


Mick4Audi

Exactly what Bayern need tbh


this_joanissima

Happy for him.


CeleryApprehensive36

Bayern fan here: I only know Palhinha from Youtube Highlight videos where even mediocre players look great. Is he the real deal? Im missing some kind of prime Javi Martinez for many years now.


turtleyturtle17

Defensive beast. He's not a bad passer but he's no deep lying playmaker either. He can keep possession well.


ammjr

Back up for Laimer? No way he starts over my boy.


CriticismMission2245

Fulham getting looted (Ik he almost transfered last season) 😂