To contextualise the growing debate around Joao Palhinha within the Tottenham Hotspur fanbase, let’s first consider the circumstances that led to him signing on a season-long loan.

Rewind to 2021. Given his standout performances for Portugal at Euro 2020 and his crucial role in Sporting CP’s league title win in 2020-21 under Ruben Amorim, if Palhinha were to leave the club he progressed through as a youngster, many expected it to be for one of Europe’s elite.

As it transpired, he waited a year and left his hometown of Lisbon for London. But not for Chelsea, Arsenal, or indeed Tottenham. He joined newly-promoted Fulham in a deal worth around €20m (£17.2m).

“A couple of reasons for that,” Tom Kundert, founder of English-language site Portugoal, told The Athletic in 2022. “He had a couple of injury problems. But also Sporting bought a very promising Uruguayan central midfielder, Manuel Ugarte, who, whenever he played, was just absolutely superb and is a bit more creative than Palhinha.”

It proved a bargain for the west Londoners. In his debut Premier League season, Palhinha was named the club’s player of the year. He won 64.3 per cent of his 112 aerial duels (Rodri with 68.6 per cent of 105 was the only player to win a larger share of those who competed for 100 aerial duels or more) and made 148 tackles in 2022-23, 48 more than any other player in England’s top flight. In his second season, he somehow topped it, finishing with 152.

Having needed just a single Premier League season to convince one of Europe’s biggest clubs he had the quality to step up, Bayern Munich failed in a deadline-day bid to bring him to the Bundesliga in 2023. That move came a year later, with Palhinha joining the German giants for €51million (£43.1m, $54.9m) plus €5m in potential add-ons, equalling a club record sale for Fulham.

The move didn’t work out. Having initially been recruited in 2023 to play under the more defensive-minded Thomas Tuchel, Palhinha was an awkward fit at the base of Vincent Kompany’s midfield, with the Belgian preferring the technical qualities of Joshua Kimmich and academy graduate Aleksandar Pavlovic.

He featured 17 times in the Bundesliga for Bayern, starting just five matches. In an end-of-season player survey conducted by German publication Kicker, Palhinha was voted the league’s most disappointing player by 216 of his Bundesliga peers, receiving 13.4 per cent of the vote.

Back to Kundert’s creativity comment. Combined with injuries, Palhinha’s perceived lack of invention and quality on the ball prevented his career in Bavaria from taking off. Now, having been cast aside by Kompany and permitted to join Spurs on loan with an option to buy for €30m, it’s central to a growing discussion around the 30-year-old’s suitability and fit within Thomas Frank’s midfield.

At the core of the discussion are memories of Tottenham’s dysfunctional engine room last season. Without a natural No 6, Ange Postecoglou experimented with Rodrigo Bentancur, Pape Matar Sarr, Archie Gray, Yves Bissouma and Lucas Bergvall at the base of midfield, all of whom have the characteristics and qualities to succeed in the right system.

It was evident, however, that Postecoglou’s daring style, which often came at the expense of leaving the defensive midfielder to manage transitions individually, didn’t suit any of them. They were conditions that even the best ball-winners in Europe — of which Palhinha is one — may not have been able to thrive in.

Under Frank, defensive structure is prioritised, and Palhinha’s qualities have been evident. He had a strong debut in the Super Cup against Paris Saint-Germain and produced one of the best performances of his career away to Manchester City, winning more duels (eight) and tackles (four) than any Spurs player, and topping off his performance with a well-taken goal. At that point, the suggestion Palhinha would be anything less than a key player moving forward this season would have felt ludicrous. But after an ineffective display in the 1-0 defeat to Bournemouth at home the following week, where he was taken off at 54 minutes, Palhinha’s limitations in helping to progress the ball through the first and middle third of the pitch were more evident.

João Palhinha: duelling monster 💪#MCITOT pic.twitter.com/f7EVWzzP13

— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) August 23, 2025

“On the offensive side, we struggled to find good enough solutions to get through phase one and two so we could get up there and put a bit of pressure on them,” Frank said in his post-match press conference. “We only did that in the last 15 where we put on good pressure and could have equalised. I think, over the game, it was fair that Bournemouth won.”

But in the modern game, you don’t necessarily have to play every match to be a key player. Contests against City and PSG offered Palhinha the perfect conditions to demonstrate the extent of his defensive capabilities — something sorely missed in midfield last season — but Frank’s willingness to leave him on the bench at home to Villarreal suggests he believes there are better alternatives for home matches where the onus is on Spurs to control possession and build attacks with patience.

For those occasions, Tottenham’s midfielders need to feel comfortable passing the ball forward under pressure. Last season, Palhinha completed 92.9 per cent of his passes in the Bundesliga — but only 2.7 per cent of those were “progressive”. For comparison, Christian Norgaard, who fulfilled a similar role under Frank last season at Brentford, played the ball forward 7.1 per cent of the time.

The immediate need to address this has been reduced by Spurs’ efficiency from set pieces and their overall defensive structure. Four clean sheets out of five matches since the Super Cup is practically impossible to maintain, but Tottenham will be solid under Frank and can expect that to continue for the remainder of the season and beyond. However, leaning on set pieces without creating enough chances from open play is unsustainable. If that well dries up, Tottenham will need more from their midfield, starting at the base.

As Bayern pushed to win the Bundesliga and go deep in the Champions League, Palhinha’s perceived weaknesses in possession kept him on the sidelines as skills to aid build-up were prioritised. Unlike Kompany, who sticks to his principles regardless of club or situation, Frank is a pragmatist and develops bespoke tactical plans. Sometimes Palhinha will be the right horse for a particular course. For other plans, he may not be.

But given the early indications of his defensive and structural value at the heart of midfield, it would be nonsensical to suggest Palhinha is a problem. In fact, in light of last season’s struggles, he’s one of Tottenham’s biggest problem solvers.

(Photo: Gaspafotos/MB Media/Getty Images)