Following interest from Aston Villa, Newcastle United has reportedly set its sights on the 31-year-old Portuguese international. Palhinha is considered by the Magpies as a primary alternative should the transfer of Pierre-Emile Höjbjerg from Olympique Marseille ultimately not materialize.

Newcastle could soon hand the reins of their defensive midfield to either Höjbjerg, a former Bayern player, or Palhinha. The latter, a target of former Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel, arrived in Munich in 2025 after his transfer from Fulham FC collapsed at the last minute the previous year due to Fulham’s veto.

At the time, the Munich club had assured the Portuguese player of their continued pursuit. However, by the time he eventually joined Munich for a fee of approximately 50 million euros, Tuchel had long departed. His successor, Vincent Kompany, found little use for the purely defensive-minded tackler.

Last season, Palhinha enjoyed a somewhat successful loan spell at Tottenham Hotspur. A permanent transfer, however, failed due to Bayern Munich’s financial demands. Neither Tottenham, nor Palhinha’s formative club Sporting, nor their fierce rivals Benfica, were prepared to meet the reported 35 million euro asking price.

Who is interested in João Palhinha?

After Aston Villa’s sporting director, Damian Vidagany, publicly confirmed interest in Palhinha on Friday following Villa’s 2-1 friendly defeat to Munich in Hong Kong, Newcastle has now reportedly entered the fray for the player.

At Newcastle United, despite the departures of central midfielders Sandro Tonali (to Tottenham) and Bruno Guimaraes (to champions Arsenal), which brought in a combined 204.5 million euros in transfer fees, new German coach Matthias Jaissle’s squad is in urgent need of a defensive midfielder.

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Who could still strengthen Newcastle United’s midfield?

The top target remains Höjbjerg, who was under contract with Bayern Munich as a youth player from 2012 to 2016 before continuing his career at Southampton, Tottenham, and then Marseille in the Premier League and France. However, if the Danish international’s transfer were to fall through, Palhinha could quickly emerge as a strong contender.

At the very least, a transfer should not collapse due to financial constraints on Newcastle’s part, even if the theoretically wealthiest club in the world has recently become more judicious with its spending.