João Palhinha - Sporting Lisbon

[SportingCP96]

Pretty sure the Sporting fans here have spoken highly of him in other threads

@SportingCP96

He is an absolute unit.

We play a two man midfield and Palhinha is essentially like two players. He partners Matheus Nunes (another very talented midfielder in our ranks go check him out)

Very strong defensively and his tackle success and headers won is really high (I can't find the exact link where I found that stat).

Offensively he is nothing to write home about but has two goals so far this season. Good enough passer but you would not be getting him for his attacking ability.

His reading of the game and understanding of when to go all in for a tackle is impressive. He is probably the single most important player in our team because nobody does what he does in our team. His presence on the pitch is very evident.

Long story short the man is a vacuum. He cleans up everything.

 

[SportingCP96]

Curious to see how Sporting fans rate him compared to Carvalho when he was there who was also highly rated at the time

William in 13/14 was incredible.

I will be the first to admit I was wrong about how good he would be. I am not sure what happened to him as he that season had me sold.

William was more skillful and better on the ball but Palhinha is a far better defensive player. His positioning is fantastic and his tackles would be cheered like goals in England

 

[SportingCP96]

I mentioned him in the thread

"Jewels of Sporting"

I should add another DM to that list soon as well.

Remember the name Dario Essugo. Debuted at 16 last season and he is a physical specimen. He will be the heir apparent to Palhinha.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

From the description in this thread he sounds like a cheaper version of Rice.

 

[SportingCP96]

The truth is their will be many threads on Sporting players because of the amount of young prospects we have in our team that will be leaving within the next year or two

Reminds me of when Ajax got rated after their CL exploits.

I would love to see this young Sporting team do something similar in the CL but I doubt it.

 

[SportingCP96]

*From my old thread I made


JOAO PALHINHA (25 yrs CDM)- The absolute rock of this team and arguably the most important player. His development in the last 4 years has been absurd and he was close to joining wolves this season before Amorim denied the move saying he valued Palhinha and wanted him in the team. What kind of player is he? Palhinha is a no nonsense CDM like the good old days. Absolute rock in the midfield he wins 95% of his 1 on 1 duels. Duals won per 90 is 9,11 his recuperations per game is 5,83 his interceptions per game is 1,38 and his aerial duels won is 2,55. The man is an absolute freak defensively and he also has 3 goals to his name so far this season. Palhinha is not an offensive threat besides in set pieces but that's not the type of player he is. He disrupts a midfield all on his own and has been Vital for Sporting having the best defense in the league.

 

[Skeezix]

Very impressed with him from the little I've seen from his Euro outings. And from Sporting Lisbon too? Sign him up!

 

[SportingCP96]

This is his partner in midfield.

Last season he played alongside Joao Mario

 

[Bebestation]

@SportingCP96

This is a very generic question i want to ask because i want to know about him but why is he 25 and getting talked about now?

Has he been good since he was young or has he been coming good in the last season or two?

Was he that Bruno type that struggled a bit at another club and had to find his balance again etc? Or was he always quite good on the pitch.

 

[Samid]

Never forget this is the club that sold us Rojo. Not sure we should be doing business with them.

 

[elmo]

Never forget this is the club that sold us Rojo. Not sure we should be doing business with them.

They also sold us Ronaldo, Nani and Bruno.

 

[Samid]

They also sold us Ronaldo, Nani and Bruno.

You know how the saying goes, three rights don’t erase a wrong.

 

[pascell]

*From my old thread I made


JOAO PALHINHA (25 yrs CDM)- The absolute rock of this team and arguably the most important player. His development in the last 4 years has been absurd and he was close to joining wolves this season before Amorim denied the move saying he valued Palhinha and wanted him in the team. What kind of player is he? Palhinha is a no nonsense CDM like the good old days. Absolute rock in the midfield he wins 95% of his 1 on 1 duels. Duals won per 90 is 9,11 his recuperations per game is 5,83 his interceptions per game is 1,38 and his aerial duels won is 2,55. The man is an absolute freak defensively and he also has 3 goals to his name so far this season. Palhinha is not an offensive threat besides in set pieces but that's not the type of player he is. He disrupts a midfield all on his own and has been Vital for Sporting having the best defense in the league.

Do you know if there was any prices said how much he'll move to Wolves for at the time?

 

[Bondi77]

Looks slow and cumbersome to me but I suppose if his value is 14m we should not expect too much.
James Garner will get a crack before we go near any other low profile players I should imagine.

 

[Bertie Wooster]

Has he been a bit of a late developer or something?

He looks a very competent DM from what I've seen of him this year, but his history shows he came through Sporting's youth system yet only got into their first team from the 2020/21 season, at 25, having been loaned out for years, and has only progressed to the Portugal squad this year.

He looks a good player, and at 26 is a good age. But he seems quite new to the 'top' level - 2021/22 seems like it'll be his first season in the CL, and 2021 his first year at international level.

 

[Kramer]

Looks like a solid unit. One to keep an eye on.

Given we have CR7 and Bruno in the squad, we really should be able to attract the top Portuguese talent to our club with ease right now. If we want them that is.

 

[Bestietom]

Since Tchouameni was mentioned in a post here I have watched him, and he seems to have everything a holding midfielder needs.
I have also seen Palinha and if I was to choose from either I would choose Tchouameni. What do you think. anyone

 

[Green Arrow]

I would take either of them Tchouameni/ Palinha next summer both of them can do the job as a CDM. Knowing Ole he won't bother with a CDM even though we needed one this season and we truly need one next season for sure.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

I watched him vs Belgium in Euro, I was totally not impressed with his performance. Looked very average in that game.

 

[Andrew7582]

I watched him vs Belgium in Euro, I was totally not impressed with his performance. Looked very average in that game.

He is average. This is like during the latter Fergie years when the fanbase were desperate to sign just about any midfielder.

 

[Mr Smith]

Never forget this is the club that sold us Rojo. Not sure we should be doing business with them.

That's not a cardinal sin, especially given the good players they've sold us. Rojo wasn't world class, but he wasn't terrible either. He was a poor left back but a serviceable CB.

 

[abraz79]

I watched him vs Belgium in Euro, I was totally not impressed with his performance. Looked very average in that game.

Bernardo Silva, Cristiano Ronaldo, Diogo Jota, Bruno Fernandes and company looked average and even below average in that game as well. Thanks to Fernando Santos.

 

[Mr Smith]

I would take either of them Tchouameni/ Palinha next summer both of them can do the job as a CDM. Knowing Ole he won't bother with a CDM even though we needed one this season and we truly need one next season for sure.

Can we kill this narrative that Ole can't see or isn't aware of the midfield problem? He obviously is; that's why he plays McFred in big games. He didn't not sign a midfielder because he doesn't think we need one, it's been confirmed by multiple sources close to the club that we wanted one. We didn't get one because Ole's targets weren't available (Rice overpriced, Camavinga wanted Madrid). You can say Ole is too picky with his targets or only goes for the obvious, but you cant say hes not looking.

Take Neves for example. I was advocating we sign him, and so were others, but there was no serious attempt from the club to buy. Clearly with the data at their disposal, they didn't feel he was good enough. Now maybe you disagree, but with Ole's record on transfers so far, I'm inclined to trust him.

 

[Santos J]

I would take either of them Tchouameni/ Palinha next summer both of them can do the job as a CDM. Knowing Ole he won't bother with a CDM even though we needed one this season and we truly need one next season for sure.

We quite clearly want a midfielder, just because we didn't spend £100m on Rice doesn't mean Ole doesn't "see the problem".

 

[JuriM]

I would take either of them Tchouameni/ Palinha next summer both of them can do the job as a CDM. Knowing Ole he won't bother with a CDM even though we needed one this season and we truly need one next season for sure.

Real really wanted Mbappe this year, but as Perez/Ancelotti didn't bother..
Chelsea really wanted Haaland this year, but as Tuchel/Marina didn't really bother..

 

[Devil may care]

arroz declinado.

 

[davidmichael]

Palhinha as the ball winner and shield in front of the back four and Garner as the deep lying playmaker could potentially be a great double pivot in years to come.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

Bernardo Silva, Cristiano Ronaldo, Diogo Jota, Bruno Fernandes and company looked average and even below average in that game as well. Thanks to Fernando Santos.

Bruno was on the bench, Portugal looked more attacking when he came on. Ronaldo top scorer. Santos might take the blame for Portugal current failure but there were better Portugal players in that game.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

I still remember how people used to overhyped William Calvalho.

 

[SportingCP96]

@SportingCP96

This is a very generic question i want to ask because i want to know about him but why is he 25 and getting talked about now?

Has he been good since he was young or has he been coming good in the last season or two?

Was he that Bruno type that struggled a bit at another club and had to find his balance again etc? Or was he always quite good on the pitch.

Was considered a promising player in the academy but he struggles early on at the top level. William Carvalho was still here as well so he had no way to be a starter at that time. He was loaned out to Moreirense and then to Braga for 2 years and at Braga is where he really found his way and broke out. He blossomed under Ruben Amorim at Braga and once Amorim joined Sporting he just continued his up ward trajectory.

 

[SportingCP96]

Do you know if there was any prices said how much he'll move to Wolves for at the time?

Lots of Rumors of a 15M price tag after his stint with Braga ended but Amorim refused to let him go as he saw him as an integral piece for the team he was building.

Sure enough we won the League title after 19 years that season.

With him being a starter for the national team now, a key player for Sporting, and playing CL football Palhinha is most likely around the 30-35M currently.

 

[bosnian_red]

Regarding the age thing, I feel like defensive midfielders take a longer time to get into their stride generally so wouldn't worry much about that.

 

[SportingCP96]

https://youtube.com/shorts/sGORK4jzHW0?feature=share

He was bullying these guys out their

 

[Ali Dia]

Lingard would totally be doing his Messi thing here against Azerbaijan. How did Ireland not beat these and take Portugal so close? Argh

 

[davidmichael]

Regarding the age thing, I feel like defensive midfielders take a longer time to get into their stride generally so wouldn't worry much about that.

Exactly, Pirlo took until his mid 20’s as did Busquets and it’s arguable that Carrick took until his latter 20’s. I think that role is about learning positional and tactical sense fully far more than actual ability.

 

[Green Arrow]

Can we kill this narrative that Ole can't see or isn't aware of the midfield problem? He obviously is; that's why he plays McFred in big games. He didn't not sign a midfielder because he doesn't think we need one, it's been confirmed by multiple sources close to the club that we wanted one. We didn't get one because Ole's targets weren't available (Rice overpriced, Camavinga wanted Madrid). You can say Ole is too picky with his targets or only goes for the obvious, but you cant say hes not looking.

Take Neves for example. I was advocating we sign him, and so were others, but there was no serious attempt from the club to buy. Clearly with the data at their disposal, they didn't feel he was good enough. Now maybe you disagree, but with Ole's record on transfers so far, I'm inclined to trust him.

Playing McFred in midfield in his eyes works (In my eyes it doesn't) we have Matic who can't manage more than one game in a week his legs have gone. Why not try something else in midfield a Matic and Donny combo that might work or Fred and Donny.

 

[Mr Smith]

Playing McFred in midfield in his eyes works (In my eyes it doesn't) we have Matic who can't manage more than one game in a week his legs have gone. Why not try something else in midfield a Matic and Donny combo that might work or Fred and Donny.

I'm not sure he feels it works, I think he feels it's the best he's got. I very much doubt he'd play Fred if he could buy Ndidi, for instance. I agree I'd like to see him give Donny a try; for whatever reason he's not trusted. Here's hoping e gives it a go this weekend given Scott is out.

 

[sourdough satellite]

You know how the saying goes, three rights don’t erase a wrong.

So we shouldn't deal with Dortmund anymore since they sold us Kagawa and Mhikitaryan?

 

[RooneyLegend]

From the description in this thread he sounds like a cheaper version of Rice.

Exactly what I thought while watching him.

 

[RooneyLegend]

This is his partner in midfield.

Last season he played alongside Joao Mario

Surely we should sign their whole midfield.