Tottenham in talks to sign João Palhinha on loan from Bayern

Tottenham are hopeful of signing João Palhinha on loan after opening talks with Bayern Munich over the Portugal midfielder. Palhinha, who joined Bayern from Fulham last summer in a deal worth up to £47.4m, is understood to be keen to return to the Premier League having rarely featured under Vincent Kompany.

He is wanted by the new Spurs manager, Thomas Frank, to provide extra options in central midfield, with talks over a deal for the 30-year-old continuing. It appears likely Bayern will sanction Palhinha’s departure, although it remains to be seen whether any deal would include an option or obligation to make the deal permanent.

Tottenham beat Arsenal 1-0 in a pre-season friendly at Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Stadium on Thursday in the first north London derby to be played overseas thanks to a long-range strike from Pape Matar Sarr.

Signing Palhinha would undoubtedly provide much-needed experience in central midfield given he made almost 80 appearances in the Premier League during his two seasons at Fulham after joining from Sporting.

Spurs have signed Mathys Tel from Bayern this summer for around £30m after the Frenchman spent the second half of last season on loan in north London. They have also added Mohammed Kudus from West Ham, but failed in their pursuit of Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White.