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(Credit: Imago, Getty)
Oliver Walton
Sun 3 August 2025 21:14, UK
Tottenham fans are pleased to see a major new signing arrive at the club to soften the recent blows of Heung-min Son leaving the club and James Maddison’s potentially serious injury.
Tottenham have enjoyed a relatively successful start to life under Thomas Frank on the pitch so far, with a 1-0 friendly win over arch rivals Arsenal followed up by a draw against fellow Champions League hopefuls Newcastle on Sunday (3 August).
They have struggled somewhat away from the field of play, however, with news of Son’s surprise impending exit emerging earlier in the week, while Maddison could be out for some time after injuring the same knee that kept him out for three months earlier in the year against Newcastle.
Their transfer business has been slow and meticulous, with Mohammed Kudus brought in from West Ham and Mathys Tel from Bayern Munich, while they have missed out on Morgan Gibbs-White after he signed a new contract at Nottingham Forest.
Spurs have entered the market for a midfielder, however, with Yves Bissouma set to depart North London, and their supporters have reacted overwhelmingly positively after a new arrival was announced on Sunday evening.
Frank has got the man he wanted in midfield (Credit: Hasan Karim, Breaking Media)
Tottenham were first linked with a move for Palhinha on 31 July by Sky Sports, so the move has progressed relatively quick for him to now be announced as a new Spurs player.
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The club moved to announce his arrival on their official X account on Sunday, with a video of him in his new colours alongside the message: “Welcome to Tottenham Hotspur, João Palhinha” with a Portuguese flag to represent his nationality.
Palhinha is no stranger to the Premier League, or the English capital, after he impressed in his two years at Fulham between 2022 and 2024 before a £47.4million [The Guardian] move to Bayern last summer.
He is a burly, tough-tackling midfielder who will add a different dynamic to Spurs’ midfield under Frank, and Tottenham supporters are clearly happy to have a player of his quality at the club for the new campaign.
https://x.com/kevski07/status/1952083155575341539
https://x.com/Buchanan_615/status/1952082801995510042
Football Insider verdict
The addition of Portuguese international midfielder Palhinha is clearly a welcome one among Spurs fans, but many have also called on the club to now focus on signing someone who can play ahead of him in midfield after Maddison’s injury.
He left the Seoul World Cup Stadium on crutches on Sunday after a reoccurrence of his serious knee injury against Newcastle, and if Tottenham’s need for more depth at number 10 wasn’t already prevalent, it certainly will be now.
AppearancesGoalsAssists751621Maddison’s Spurs career stats
Frank had started Pape Sarr as his most advanced midfielder against the Magpies, while Lucas Bergvall played there against Arsenal, but both of those players are much more suited to a deeper role, and new man Kudus can play there but looks set to be deployed on the right wing instead.
Dejan Kulusevski is the other man in the Dane’s squad who can feature as a number 10, but he is reportedly “nowhere near” returning to action after his patella surgery in May (Football London), so it could not be more obvious where the club need to strengthen as soon as possible this summer.
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