João Palhinha has become the transfer deadline day’s tragic figure, as his move from Fulham to Bayern Munich collapsed as he watched on helplessly from Bayern’s training facility.
Fulham had allowed the Portuguese midfielder to fly to Munich after reportedly agreeing to a fee in the region of €65 million with the German champions.
Though Palhinha arrived in Munich, the transfer was not completely sealed. Fulham was still reportedly searching for the 28-year-old’s replacement, which was a necessity for the Premier League club to allow one of its key players to depart.
Though the likes of Scott McTominay and Pierre-Emile Højbjerg were linked to the Cottagers, no deal went through prior to the 6 p.m. transfer deadline in Germany.
And so Palhinha — having already completed a medical and even taken photos with a Bayern shirt — saw his deadline-day move collapse in heartbreaking fashion.
It was a frustrating conclusion to a fruitless deadline day for Bayern, which also saw rumored moves for Armel Bella-Kotchap, Trevoh Chalobah and João Cancelo fall through.
But it was Palhinha’s collapsed deal which will hurt the most, as the Portugal international joins Peter Odemwingie in the annals of failed deadline-day transfers.