Bayern are still considered more than interested in Joao Palhinha and would like to sign the Fulham star this summer.
The Bavarian giants, however, appear likely to only post one final offer for the Portuguese international’s services.
At which point, failure to land the holding midfielder could see the Bundesliga outfit pursue Everton’s Amadou Onana as an alternative.
“FC Bayern would still like to sign Joao Palhinha from Fulham. The third offer should still be the last. The club does not want to pay a total of more than €46m for the player,” Christian Falk wrote in his exclusive Fact Files column with CaughtOffside.
“Because Fulham wants more money, FC Bayern recently looked at Hakan Calhanoglu from Inter Milan. But the Italians also didn’t want to let the player go for less than €50m. Calhanoglu would have loved to come to FC Bayern. Only when it became clear that the move was failing due to finances did he make it clear by post that he wanted to stay at Inter.
“Bayern is therefore continuing to look for alternatives if Palhinha doesn’t work out. Amadou Onana from Everton is now an issue again. The Munich team now knows that Onana can leave for £52m [€61.4m at the current exchange rate]. The sum is higher than Palhinha, but Onana is also younger at 22 years old. The money would therefore be invested for the longer term.”
The Belgian’s current terms with the Toffees are set to expire in the summer of 2027.
Who else likes Amadou Onana?
It’s worth pointing out that Bayern Munich won’t necessarily have a clear run at Onana in the current window.
Most clubs are remaining patient ahead of the end of international tournaments, and in the meantime, Arsenal are said to be keeping a close eye on the Belgian international.
It’s just a ‘monitoring’ stage as things currently stand, but things can, of course, quickly develop in the market.
Unai Emery’s Aston Villa have also been linked with a potential move for the Bayern target, though it remains to be seen how the Villans will deploy their funds this summer.
