Man United tipped as realistic option to sign “typical Premier League number six”

Manchester United have been tipped as a possible realistic option to sign Joao Palhinha, who is currently on loan at Tottenham from Bayern Munich.

The experienced Portugal international was a star performer during a spell at Fulham, which earned him a big move to Bayern.

However, Palhinha’s time at the Allianz Arena didn’t really work out as expected, leading to him returning to English football with a loan to Spurs this summer.

Discussing his compatriot, former Tottenham midfielder Pedro Mendes praised his qualities and admitted he could see him being an option for Man Utd as an upgrade on a similar style of player in the form of Manuel Ugarte.

Speaking to Boyle Sports, as quoted by the Metro, Mendes discussed Palhinha’s future, suggesting it might not lie at Spurs for the long term.

“Palhinha at Man Utd? Well, why not?” he said.

“To be fair, I think Manuel Ugarte is more or less the same type of player as Palhinha. [But] Palhinha is an option if they want to replace him.

“We are not sure what is going to happen to Casemiro, so I think it (Manchester United signing Palhinha) could work.

“Joao Palhinha is the typical Premier League number six, that defensive midfielder who just sweeps up everything in front of the defenders.”

Mendes went on to explain why Palhinha perhaps struggled to show his best form at Bayern, and it could point towards issues for him at Old Trafford as well.

Although Ruben Amorim’s side are a work in progress, the long-term aim will surely be for the team to go back to dominating games in terms of possession and chance creation.

Mendes, however, is unsure if Palhinha can flourish in a system like that, which has, arguably, also been why Ugarte hasn’t had many chances under Amorim.

“If you have a team that has a lot of possession, he’s a little bit out of his game, from my point of view.,” Mendes said.

“The players around him will shine more than him because, as you said, he just wins the ball, passes it away, tackles the ball, passes it. He’s fantastic at doing that role. He was fantastic at Fulham.

“At Bayern Munich, when you have 70% or 60% of ball possession most of the games, you don’t need to do that kind of job.

“Because normally teams play counter-attack or don’t have that type of possession against you, his strength is a little bit forgotten.

“He has more of the ball and he needs to be more involved in the game, and to be fair, it’s not his main strength.

“So probably that’s why he struggled at Bayern and at Spurs at the moment. I like what I saw in some games this year from him, but it’s different from Fulham.”

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