João Palhinha’s first season at Bayern Munich after making his move from Fulham in the Premier League, as he was never able to gain a solid run of starts in Vincent Kompany’s midfield. There was always a preference to play either Leon Goretzka or Aleksandar Pavlović alongside Joshua Kimmich in the center of midfield and both Konrad Laimer and Raphaël Guerreiro were also able to be used in midfield a handful of times.
In total, Palhinha made a total of 24 appearances across all competitions, most of which were substitute appearances. He has also only made 1 appearance at the FIFA Club World Cup this summer, which was the start he made in the 1-0 loss to Benfica in Charlotte, North Carolina.
While he did also miss 12 matches across all competitions due to a muscular injury, Palhinha’s lack of playing time and consistent form lent itself to linking him with potential moves away from Munich this summer. Despite said links, the Portuguese midfielder is remaining firm in his stance that he wants to stay at Bayern and fight for his place in the team, as per Sky Sport’s Kerry Hau (via @iMiaSanMia).
He is said to be using Goretzka’s example as more reason to stay and fight for his place in the team. At one point, during the 2019/20 Sextuple season, Kimmich and Goretzka were an unstoppable double pivot in midfield for the German Rekordmeister, but Goretzka had fallen out of favor with Julian Nagelsmann and Thomas Tuchel. Under Kompany, he benefitted from the number of matches Pavlović through his injury layover.
Even with Palhinha’s desire to stay, a transfer cannot be 100% ruled out at this current juncture, but the club will likely take it as a good sign and testament of commitment for the Portuguese international with wanting to stay and fight. Hopefully for the former Fulham man he will be able to stay injury free this coming season and be able to get solid minutes, competing with Kimmich, Goretzka, Pavlović, and new signing Tom Bischof.
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