Joao Palhinha just realized it wasn't Roberto De Zerbi who twisted the knife in his Tottenham future

Although Joao Palhinha had a lull in the middle of the 2025/26 Premier League season, Tottenham Hotspur supporters fell back in love with the veteran defensive midfielder at the end of the campaign for his heroics in the Premier League relegation battle.

Without Palhinha, Spurs would have very likely ended up in the EFL Championship. He really turned up his performances in the final month of the campaign, saving his best for last with a monster of a display, including the winning goal from a corner, to sink Everton.

At the time, Roberto De Zerbi was telling the world that Palhinha would 100 percent be back at Tottenham and in his plans as at least a rotational player with some importance in the squad after the character and defensive quality he showed for the Lilywhites when they needed him the most.

Bayern Munich did Joao Palhinha wrong

So there was a sense of betrayal when Tottenham Hotspur did not keep Joao Palhinha after all, letting the former Fulham star head back to Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich without accepting his 25-30 million euro option to buy on the one year loan deal they made last summer.

According to information from German outlet BILD, via iMiaSanMia, the culprit of Palhinha's snub was not Tottenham's manager Roberto De Zerbi. It was not he who went back on his word that stopped the Palhinha transfer to Spurs from being permanent, but rather Bayern's own greed.

The story from BILD is that De Zerbi really did love Palhinha and very much wanted to sign him permanently. Tottenham just did not feel that 25-30 million euros was worth the price, and as they did with Mathys Tel from Bayern last summer, they tried to negotiate the loan clause down.

They were unsuccessful, as the interest from the Portuguese top flight led Bayern to believe they could get full value for the 31 year old. Bayern insisted on 30 million euros, which Tottenham balked at. And so did Benfica and Sporting CP, who now just want a simple loan deal again. Now, Bayern are still scrambling to find a solution, because Palhinha has no path to playing time there - and the Reds don't want to be stuck with another loan.

Perhaps this will open the door for Tottenham to reconsider, but you wonder if that ship has sailed for De Zerbi after Tottenham brought in both Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes for nearly 200 million euros because they still have Conor Gallagher and Rodrigo Bentancur on their books as veteran mids.

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• Portuguese media dropped the Joao Palhinha transfer update Tottenham did not want
• Tottenham's summer transfer window has sparked an Archie Gray firestorm
• There is one move Tottenham fans are begging Roberto De Zerbi to make above the others

This article was originally published on hotspurhq.com as Joao Palhinha just realized it wasn't Roberto De Zerbi who twisted the knife in his Tottenham future.