Joao Palhinha has won Fulham’s player of the season award after a sensational first season at Craven Cottage.

The Portuguese international, who made an incredible 147 tackles in his first Premier League campaign, scored four goals in forty appearances as Marco Silva’s side finished tenth on their return to the top flight. The former Sporting defensive midfielder won more than half the votes cast in an online on Fulham’s official website, beating fellow summer signing Bernd Leno to the award.

Palhinha told fulhamfc.com:

“To all of the Fulham family, I want to say thank you for the player of the season award. I feel really glad to receive this award.I think it’s a little bit unfair because everyone at Fulham could have received this award this season. I know it was a tough choice to choose just one player, so if I didn’t have my teammates behind me to help me to improve every day, it would have been impossible to achieve this.”