Bayern Munich have agreed a deal worth up to £47.5million to sign Joao Palhinha, in what would be a club-record sale for Fulham.
The Bavarian giants had already made two bids this summer — including one worth £29.7m — but Fulham stuck to their valuation of the player and rejected both.
Now, though, Bayern have made a breakthrough, having struck a deal worth an initial £43.2m plus a further £4.3m in performance-related add-ons.
The deal would beat Fulham’s previous record sale, set last summer when striker Aleksandar Mitrovic joined Saudi club Al-Hilal for £45m.
Bayern thought they had signed Palhinha on transfer deadline day last summer, when the player was given permission by Fulham to fly to Bavaria for a medical.
But in the end he had to travel back to London when Fulham pulled the plug on the deal due to their failure to secure a replacement in time.
Palhinha will be a big loss to Fulham, who paid just £17m to sign him from Sporting CP in 2022 before enjoying two excellent seasons where he was a mainstay for them in the Premier League.
But Palhinha is a long-term Bayern target and their interest never waned despite the German club replacing manager Thomas Tuchel with ex-Burnley boss Vincent Kompany in May.
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Bayern will hope his signing finally brings them a solution to the defensive midfield position that caused them so many problems last season, when they failed to win a single trophy despite welcoming England captain Harry Kane as a summer signing.
Palhinha completed more tackles than any other Premier League player in both of his full seasons in the English top-flight, and now looks set to leave Fulham following the conclusion of Euro 2024, where he is currently gearing up for Portugal’s heavyweight quarter-final tie against France in Hamburg on Friday night.
After the Euros, Palhinha will complete a medical at Bayern, who have already signed Hiroki Ito, Bryan Zaragoza, Nestory Irankunda and Armindo Sieb this summer, as well as making Eric Dier’s loan deal from Tottenham permanent. Sieb has already gone out on loan to Mainz.
