Who is Joao Palhinha? The ball winning Portugal star set for Fulham

Ahead of the 2018/19 and 2020/21 Premier League seasons, Fulham went on a huge recruitment drive as they sought to add sufficient personnel to improve their chances of beating the drop. On both occasions, the Cottagers succumbed to relegation, finishing 19th and 18th, respectively. 

Now back in the Premier League, many had expected a similar response from the west London side after they stormed their way to Championship glory. However, up until now, they are yet to confirm a single signing. Rather, they have sold Fabio Carvalho and Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa to Liverpool and Napoli, respectively, and released the likes Alfie Mawson and Jean Michael Seri, two players they spent big on back in 2018. 

With a little over a month to go before the Premier League campaign, though, Fulham are finally about to make a splash in the market. Marco Silva may be unhappy at the lack of progress by the Premier League returnees in the market, but he will be pleased at the impending acquisition of Joao Palhinha. 

Fulham are set to sign the midfielder for a reported £20m and Palhinha will afford the Whites the defensive protection required to help consolidate a Premier League spot. A major issue for Fulham in their last two Premier League campaigns was their leaky backline as they finished both seasons with one of the worst goal differences in the division. 

The addition of Palhinha, then, will ease these defensive concerns, with the 26-year-old establishing himself as a ball winning machine in the last two Liga Bwin seasons. Of teams to have played the last two campaigns in Portugal's top tier, Sporting CP have conceded the fewest goals (42). Over that same period, Palhinha made more tackles (185) than any other player as he proved influential in the middle of the park for Ruben Amorim's side.

His departure will be a blow for Sporting CP, but the player has long been linked with a move to a Premier League side and that looks to finally be coming to fruition. For Fulham, Palhinha's arrival is a huge boost to their survival chances. Last season, Silva relied heavily on Harrison Reed and Seri to anchor the midfield in his favoured 4-2-3-1 system, yet the latter's exit coupled with the former's relative inexperience when playing regularly in a top-tier team adds weight to the importance of Palhinha's arrival. 

Part of the reason behind the high number of tackles is Palhinha's size. Standing at 6'3", the Portugal international is an imposing presence in the middle of the park and this plays a key part in shielding the backline. While not the most dynamic of central midfielders, he carries out his ball winning duties to a high standard, and this is important for a Fulham side that is looking to shake the yo-yo tag. 

With the ball in the air, Palhinha is also a handy option to help counter more direct opponents, noted in that he has developed a statistically calculated WhoScored strength of 'aerial duels'. Of the 137 players that contested 50 or more aerial duels in Liga Bwin last season, Palhinha's aerial success rate of 65.1% ranked 16th, a respectable return for the midfielder. For a Fulham side that did have 'aerial duels' as a weakness last season, this is an added bonus for Silva. 

What fans won't see from Palhinha is a willingness to break upfield when he does win the ball. Players in his position may seek to get forward when they do recover possession, but Palhinha instead elects to keep things safe, as noted by a return of just 0.7 successful dribbles per 90. A pass success rate of 87.8% was the sixth best of Sporting CP players to register at least 1000 Liga Bwin minutes last season, while 51 passes per 90 ranked seventh using the same parameters. 

That said, the key attribute for a playing in his role is to simply win the ball and recycle possession effectively, two traits that Palhinha does well. You'll rarely see him supporting the offensive, yet Fulham's priority this coming campaign will be to limit the chances opponents have on their goal and Palhinha should prove a key player in this regard.