“I don’t like Thomas Tuchel”: €60 million player would rather sign for Arsenal than to accept new proposals from Baryen Munich

Bayern Munich will not sign Fulham midfielder Joao Palhinha in January, Fabrizio Romano has announced.

The Portuguese international made a big impression during his time in the Premier League with Fulham, and Romano is reassessing his situation after coming close to leaving Fulham for Bayern this summer.

Speaking to CaughtOffside in his exclusive Daily Briefing column, Romano explained that Palhinha is now too expensive for Bayern, who are instead focusing on other targets for this January.

Romano went on to say that we will now have to see if this means Palhinha will try to sign for another English club instead, having previously told CaughtOffside that Arsenal admired the 28-year-old.

If Bayern are no longer in the game, this could be an opportunity for Arsenal to strengthen their midfield, as Thomas Partey has proved to be very injury-prone recently.

Romano said of Palhinha’s situation: “Joao Palhinha will not join Bayern Munich in the January transfer window. We know that he was almost a Bayern player on transfer deadline day this summer before the deal fell through – Bayern decided to keep monitoring the player because they still like and value Palhinha. But now the deal will not happen because he is considered too expensive.

“Bayern are clear – they are not going to pay €75-80 million for Palhinha, and that is how much Fulham want for the Portuguese midfielder after he signed a new contract this summer. Nothing will happen for Palhinho at Bayern in January, as they signed Eric Dier instead, and are now focusing on signing a new right-back.

“As for Palhinho, we will see if the situation with the English club, who will try to sign him in January, can change or if he will move in the summer. Right now the situation is calm, but his price makes it difficult for anything to happen in January, because the only option is for top clubs to sell players earlier, but even that is not easy.”

Arsenal fans will certainly be watching this closely in the coming days and weeks, but it could of course also be the case that other Premier League clubs are more likely to enter the battle for his signature, as the Gunners are somewhat limited in what they can do after a busy summer with big names like Declan Rice and Kai Havertz.