Premier League interest in signing Fulham’s Joao Palhinha has now been confirmed, amid rumours that Arsenal are looking at him.

Over the last few days, a couple of sources have reported that Arsenal are interested in Joao Palhinha, including Connor Humm and football insider Team News and Ticks.

According to the claims, the player is emerging as a potential target for the Gunners in the transfer market, though it’s more likely to go through in the summer than in January.

Palhinha was previously heavily linked with a move to Bayern Munich over the summer, and he remains a target for the club, but various sources have now confirmed that there is Premier League interest in the player as well.

Sam Dean of The Telegraph write that Bayern will face competition from multiple Premier League clubs, with at least two showing an interest in the midfielder.

Simon Collings of the Evening Standard confirms that multiple Premier League sides are tracking the 28-year-old, and Kaya Kaynak writes for Football.London that a number of clubs in the division are indeed interested.

Though none of the three outlets explicitly name Arsenal as one of the interested clubs, the timing of the reports – following the claims of Arsenal interest on social media – can’t be ignored.

Arsenal have generally opted for much younger players than 28-year-old Palhinha, so the addition of the Fulham man would be surprising.

But the Portuguese international has performed excellently for Fulham, so the Gunners could be willing to overlook his age and relative inexperience at the top level.

Bayern were willing to pay around £56m for Palhinha in the summer, though it’s unclear whether Fulham would accept the same amount this time around.

Arsenal are probably going to need midfield additions in 2024, and Palhinha certainly appears to be a strong one. Just perhaps not the target we might have expected.