It’s been a rocky road for Palhinha at Bayern thus far, but there’s still time for him to turn his fortunes around.
João Palhinha’s relationship with Bayern Munich and time at the club has been complex and complicated to say the least. His move from Fulham in the Premier League was put on hold for a season after his transfer to the German Rekordmeister fell through in the dying hours of the transfer window in the summer of 2024. Most Bayern fans know the story — he had already been taking some of his press release photos at Säbener Straße before the deal was ultimately called off and looked a distraught figure on his way back to the airport.
Fast forward to now, and the Portuguese midfielder has had a tough time getting consistent minutes under Vincent Kompany, and he has also had injury setbacks to deal with. Most recently, he took one step back with his straight red card in Bayern’s 3-2 loss to VfL Bochum in the Bundesliga; a match that came in between the two Champions League round of 16 legs against Bayer Leverkusen. He won’t be available for selection now until after the international break after serving his suspension.
Looking back on the incident that led to his sending off at the Allianz Arena against Bochum, Palhinha feels the decision might have been a tad bit harsh, but he is already looking forward and not dwelling on the stroke of misfortune. “It wasn’t easy for me after the red card against Bochum. Even though I don’t think I deserved a red card for that. I was disappointed because I wanted to show what I could do. But that’s in the past. I’m ready for new challenges,” he explained to Sport Bild’s Tobi Altschäffl (transcribed via @iMiaSanMia).
Photo by Tom Weller/picture alliance via Getty Images
If anything sums up how his tenure at Bayern has gone thus far, he was bought from Fulham for a fee of around 51-million euros and is currently valuated at around 40-million euros just over seven months later. He has made a total of 19 appearances across all competitions and has yet to find the back of the net once or provide an assist, granted his preferred position is the number 6 role. Naturally, with a difficult start to his first season, there has been speculation churned up that he could be out the door this summer, but he has no time for those rumors, personally. “I’m not interested in the rumors about a departure. I’ll do everything I can to show why the club spent the money on me. I’m not thinking about leaving. I’m doing my job; what happens otherwise is beyond my control,” he said.
Even if he might not have been a starter against Leverkusen in the Champions League and might not start in the quarterfinals against Inter Milan, Palhinha is very much looking forward to the next round of the competition. “The games against Leverkusen were great. The games against Inter are a great chance for us. We’ve come one step closer to our big goal, the final in Munich. Now we have to take two more steps in the quarterfinals and semi-finals,” he enthused. After the international break, matches both European and domestically come thick and fast for Bayern, so Kompany will need all of the depth he can get, which could result in more opportunities for Palhinha.
