Brighton and Aston Villa among those interested in Joao Palhinha | OneFootball

Sport Bild’s Bayern Insider Podcast reports that Aston Villa and Brighton are now interested in acquiring Bayern Munich’s Joao Palhinha. Premier League sides have been taking interest in the Portuguese midfielder all summer, though specific clubs were not always cited. The German Pod also references to Manchester United and West Ham United as parties who have expressed interest in the Bundesliga professional. Fulham could also take Palhinha back.

Palhinha himself has repeatedly emphasized that he wishes to remain with Bayern. Sport Bild nevertheless claims that the 29-year-old is open to changing his mind. This is in large part due to the fact that he only logged 45 minutes of playing time for the German record champions during the recent Club World Cup. Palhinha started none of Bayern’s five tournament matches, featuring only during the second half of the meaningless third group stage fixtures against Benfica Lisbon.

The German tabloid’s reporters go so far as to say that a transfer is definitely in the works. The Bavarians seem to have no desire to hold onto previous head coach Thomas Tuchel’s coveted “holding six” now that Tuchel has departed. Palhinha estimated market value has been halved over the last 18 months. The once €60m-valued player now only maintains an estimated market value of €30m. Bayern paid €51m to acquire Palhinha from Fulham last summer.

GGFN | Peter Weis