Spurs agree Palhinha deal: Why it is more important than signing Gibbs-White

Tottenham Hotspur have agreed a deal to sign midfielder Joao Palhinha on loan from Bayern Munich for the season.

Palhinha’s first appearance for Spurs could even come against his parent club, with the London club scheduled to play Bayern in a pre-season friendly in Munich next Thursday.

The signing of Palhinha may not induce the excitement that news of Spurs’ ultimately unsuccessful bid for Morgan Gibbs-White provoked, but it is potentially more important.

Here is why Palhinha, at least in the short term, will solve more issues for his new club than Gibbs-White would have done.

Problem position filled

While Gibbs-White would have undoubtedly been an excellent signing for Tottenham and Thomas Frank’s squad would clearly benefit from the addition of another attacking midfielder, it is a natural defensive midfielder that the squad really lacked. James Maddison is a more than capable option in the No 10 position, while Lucas Bergvall can play there. Frank will also have Dejan Kulusevski to pick from once the Swede returns to fitness.

Tottenham are open to selling Yves Bissouma, who has often had to play as the most defensive of Tottenham’s midfielders. This is not Bissouma’s natural role and he lacks the consistency to be relied on throughout the season. In Palhinha, Spurs now have a natural No 6 who can give Rodrigo Bentancur more time on the ball and free up more attacking talents such as Maddison, Bergvall and Kulusevski to go forward. In a team full of players who thrive with the ball, much of Palhinha’s best work comes off it.

Experience

Frank’s predecessor, Ange Postecoglou, made it clear last season that Tottenham’s squad was lacking in experience. Signing a 30-year-old represents a slight change of approach from a club who have focused predominantly on youth in recent years, and it should help the rest of the squad. Gibbs-White certainly has experience that would have benefited the Tottenham team, but Palhinha is five years older, has big-club experience from his spell at Bayern and enjoyed two successful seasons in the Premier League with Fulham. An older head in the middle of the park is just what Spurs needed and the Portugal international will be just as useful off the pitch as he should be on it.

Set-piece help

Tottenham are not a small team by any means, but they have occasionally struggled with defending set-pieces. Palhinha should be able to help with that. Standing at just over 6ft 2in he will not only help to stop balls over the top, but should also give assistance to Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero in defending corners and free-kicks. Gibbs-White would have given Tottenham another option in the taking of set-pieces, but Pedro Porro can already provide excellent deliveries, while Maddison is also a corner and free-kick specialist.

Backing for Frank

Signing a 30-year-old, even on loan, is not a decision that chairman Daniel Levy would have taken lightly. It goes against his recent policy of going for youth and offers the club little in terms of long-term security. But, crucially, it represents backing and support for the new head coach. Frank clearly wanted a player of Palhinha’s profile, having made midfielder Christian Norgaard an integral part of his Brentford team. Norgaard moved to Arsenal this summer and it is claimed Mikel Arteta’s side looked at Palhinha themselves before completing that deal. Frank will need as much backing and support as possible if he is to make a success of his first season in charge at Spurs and it is encouraging that Levy has been prepared to deviate from the norm to do so.

And another thing…

Tottenham and Bayern have become trading buddies over recent years with Harry Kane and Eric Dier moving to Germany and Mathys Tel and now Palhinha coming in the opposite direction. Spurs have a first-option clause to re-sign Kane at any point Bayern decide to sell him and if the player indicates a desire to leave. Sources are already discussing the possibility of Kane returning to England and the Premier League next summer, after the World Cup, so does that open the door to an emotional Spurs comeback in 12 months? Time will tell, but it is clear that Tottenham and Bayern enjoy doing mutually beneficial business.