Tottenham are about to avoid a Joao Palhinha disaster

Tottenham Hotspur fans were saddened when the reality set in that the club would have to move on from Joao Palhinha, as Bayern Munich were unwilling to sell him to Spurs permanently for less than the 25 to 30 million euro option to buy clause in his loan contract that had been arranged, even though they were willing to go lower last year for emerging left winger Mathys Tel.

It seemed like Palhinha was destined to return to the Portuguese top flight, as he had been mulling offers from their Big Three even when it seemed like Roberto De Zerbi was all in on keeping the defensive midfielder as a leader off the bench in the squad following his heroics in keeping Spurs up in the Premier League, which included the winning goal on Matchday 38 vs. Everton to confirm Spurs safety.

But the former Fulham star has been getting serious Premier League interest from Aston Villa, which would be a disastrous outcome for Tottenham Hotspur. The last thing Spurs want to see is Palhinha sticking around in the Premier League with a club that has frequently threatened Champions League places in competition with Tottenham and will be a key team to battle against in the table this season.

Tottenham don't want to see Joao Palhinha on Aston Villa

However, it looks like Joao Palhinha may not be headed to Aston Villa despite strong transfer links. According to new information from Fabrizio Romano, Villa's last bid for Palhinha was rejected by Bayern Munich, and now Portuguese giants Benfica are seeing that as an opening to push harder for the 31 year old defensive midfielder. Romano says that Benfica are now in club to club negotiations with the Bundesliga giants and are aiming to keep him away from the Premier League.

Tottenham will be rooting for Palhinha to go to Benfica. They are a historic Champions League club and an opportunity for Palhinha to head back to his home country and play football at a high level without hurting Spurs directly in the Premier League this season.

As Palhinha showed last season, he is still an asset, and with Aston Villa already landing Aaron Wan-Bissaka at right back, the last thing Spurs want is for another great defensive player and leader to solidify a Villa time that is sliding a bit after a difficult offseason. It would also hurt greatly to see Palhinha playing in the Premier League right now in any other kit.