Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay ‘said no’ to a move to Fulham and played a key part in the collapse of the deal that would have taken Joao Palhinha to Bayern Munich, according to Fabrizio Romano.
Palhinha travelled to Munich, completed his medical and posed with the Bayern shirt at the Allianz Arena before the Portuguese interantional’s ‘dream move’ fell through as Fulham failed to sign a suitable replacement. McTominay, who had been linked with West Ham United and Bayern earlier in the window, rejected the opportunity to move to Craven Cottage – a decision which helped doom the German giants’ late bid for Palhinha.
Romano, whose social media updates throughout deadline day suggested that Bayern Munich had succeeded in snaring Thomas Tuchel’s top target said:
“It was an incredible Friday at Bayern Munich, especially with the remarkable details of the Joao Palhinha deal collapsing. We witnessed some crazy scenes in Munich, in the headquarters of Bayern, and with the player, who was shocked by the situation. Palhinha was convinced he was joining Bayern, he had completed two parts of his medical tests, all the documents were ready, his contract was ready, and he did media duties in a Bayern shirt.
Everything was done for Palhinha to join Bayern, but Fulham needed a transfer to come in as a replacement. They needed to get this done by 6pm because the transfer window was closing in Germany at that time, but what happened is that Fulham didn’t find a player by that time. They tried, though, for a few different players, including Youssouf Fofana and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg. However, they couldn’t reach an agreement.
Then the crucial part of this story – Scott McTominay. From what I’m told, Fulham also spoke to the Manchester United midfielder, but he said no to Fulham. So what happened is that the Palhinha deal collapsed because Fulham couldn’t find a replacement. Palhinha was shocked, and Thomas Tuchel was not happy at all with the situation – he had been insisting to have the defensive midfielder for a long time, even though Bayern only pushed for the move on deadline day.
So for Tuchel, it was a big problem to manage this story, with the player really sad and disappointed. He then had to return to London after a message from Fulham, so this was something really incredible and let’s see what it means for Palhinha’s future at Fulham.”
