The Daily Mail has published a run down of the top Premier League signings from 2022/23 written by Will Pickworth.
I wondered how close to the top Joao Palhinha might feature. We’ve been fairly consistent in saying that he’s the best pound-for-pound signing of the season given that the Whites only had to part with an initial fee of just over £17m to sign the Portuguese prince of tackling from Sporting. Perhaps only Erling Haaland could match his impact throughout the course of a top flight campaign – the Norwegian’s sheer weight of goals is phenomenal.
Imagine my surprise when scrolling down this piece to see that Palhinha is only ranked number seven below Pervis Estupinan, Lisandro Martinez (really?), Manuel Akanji, Casemiro, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Haaland. The red tops still persist in linking Palhinha with a £40m transfer to West Ham. The conveyors of clickbait on the internet claim Liverpool’s new sporting director could sign the 27 year-old for £50m. These figures are pure fantasy when you consider Palhinha’s incredible first season in England and the fact that he still has four years to run on a contract that Fulham are able to extend by a further twelve months.
Why do the media continue to underrate Palhinha? Is it because he plays for Fulham? I won’t get started on the lack of Bernd Leno in this list …
Let’s keep our little secrets to ourselves
Long may they all go under the radar!
Palhinha, Leno and Willian were all stellar value signings – three of the best players in the PL – credit to the Fulham recruitment team – let’s hope for more of the same this summer!
Totally agree with Robin, each one came in and played their very best football for us. Not here just for a nice payday. The group has shown such togetherness . Marco has developed a team spirit second to none. Come on you Whites.
I agree with all…lets stay under the radar and if Marcos team get some more players that buy into the team sprit then lets hope we can go far. Last year was one of the most enjoyable years l’ve had at Fulham during the 54 years supporting the club.