Fabrizio Romano says Tottenham have made 'approach' for player who 'leads through attitude'

Tottenham are now said to be in active talks to sign a midfielder they have been heavily linked with over recent weeks. Spurs have only signed one first team player so far this season, landing Mohammed Kudus on a big-money deal from West Ham, while Morgan Gibbs-White could yet follow.

After a disastrous campaign of last, Tottenham need to invest heavily in their squad this summer, with Thomas Frank also keen to put his own stamp on his new squad.

One of the areas that needs strengthening is the holding midfield role, with Tottenham having struggled in that spot last season. Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr both struggled last season, and the former could be allowed to leave this summer, especially if Spurs strengthen in his position.

In terms of targets, it looks as though Tottenham are focusing on a deal to sign Bayern Munich midfielder Joao Palhinha, who has struggled for game time since his big-money move from Fulham last summer. Palhinha has made just 17 league appearances since making the move to Germany, with Vincent Kompany clearly not convinced by his ability.

Fabrizio Romano has now said: “Tottenham have genuine interest in João Palhinha as initial approach has been made with his camp. More will follow in the next weeks as there’s no formal proposal to Bayern yet.”

Palhinha addressed his lack of game time during the season, saying: “I know my time at FC Bayern will come. That's why I work hard every day - I'm fighting for my chance. To be honest, I'm not interested in all the talk about me losing my patience. What is said or interpreted from the outside is not important.

"I am at this big club because I believe in myself. There have been many moments in my career when people have said things like: Will he make it? Will he get game time?' - we're just at the beginning,"

Then Bayern sporting director Christoph Freund said early in the season: “We are very, very happy that we have Palhinha. We will need him. We have a lot of games. When you see the intensity we play with, we need a really good squad. He's staying positive and training well. It's a new language, a new country, his first really big club. Everything's fine.”

Palhinha praise

Fulham boss Marco Silva was a huge admirer of Palhinha while he was still at Craven Cottage. He previously said: “He leads through his attitude, he's not the most vocal guy and he's improving his English as well. I want him to be more vocal and in that position it's important.

"His attitude, his commitment, the way he leads the others around are things that are hard to find in football. In moments (when) we lose the ball, his reaction is impressive and we want to take the best from him and in other moments we want him to keep improving. We won the ball in a high area and our players took the right decisions. Then, the finish from Joao was great."

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