Beyond Aston Villa, Newcastle United has reportedly entered the pursuit for the 31-year-old Portuguese star. According to recent reports, Palhinha is considered a prime alternative for the Magpies should their primary target, Pierre-Emile Höjbjerg, fail to finalize a transfer from Olympique de Marseille.

Newcastle could soon see their defensive midfield anchored by either Höjbjerg, a former Bayern player, or Palhinha. Palhinha initially arrived in Munich in 2025, a move strongly desired by then-Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel. This came after his intended transfer from Fulham FC fell through at the last minute the previous year due to Fulham’s refusal to release him.

The Bavarian giants had promised the Portuguese player that they would persist in their efforts to sign him. However, by the time he finally joined Munich for a fee estimated around 50 million euros, Tuchel had already departed the club. His successor, Vincent Kompany, seemingly found little use for a purely defensive-minded tackler of Palhinha’s profile.

Last season, Palhinha enjoyed a relatively successful loan spell at Tottenham Hotspur. However, a permanent transfer to the London club did not materialize due to Bayern’s financial demands. Neither Tottenham, nor Palhinha’s former club Sporting, nor their fierce rivals Benfica were reportedly willing to meet the requested 35 million euro fee.

Who is pursuing joão palhinha?

Following Aston Villa’s sporting director, Damian Vidagany, publicly confirming interest in Palhinha during Villa’s 2-1 friendly defeat against Munich in Hong Kong, Newcastle has now reportedly joined the race for his signature.

At Newcastle United, the coffers are certainly full after the departures of central midfielders Sandro Tonali (to Tottenham) and Bruno Guimaraes (to Arsenal), which collectively generated 204.5 million euros in transfer fees. Despite this, the squad under new German coach Matthias Jaissle is in urgent need of a defensive midfielder.

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Potential midfield reinforcements for newcastle united

The primary solution remains Höjbjerg, who was part of Bayern Munich’s youth setup from 2012 to 2016 before forging his career at Southampton, Tottenham, and later Marseille in the Premier League and France. However, if the Danish international’s transfer ultimately falls through, Palhinha could quickly emerge as a leading candidate.

At least, the transfer should not be hindered by financial constraints on Newcastle’s part, even if the theoretically wealthiest club in the world has adopted a more measured approach to spending in recent times.