PL club set to make big offer for ‘outstanding’ Liverpool target

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West Ham United are set to make a second offer for reported Liverpool target Joao Palhinha.

Palhinha has been heavily circulated as one of the midfielders on Liverpool’s radar to replace Fabinho. Just yesterday, The Telegraph reiterated that the Reds are ‘looking at’ the 28-year-old as a possible new signing.

They also claimed that West Ham are looking as well. This is backed up by Portuguese outlet A Bola, who report that the Hammers are readying an improved bid to Fulham.

Having seemingly already offered around £43m for Palhinha, David Moyes is said to be willing to now put down £51m for the Portugal international.

There’s no mention of whether this will be acceptable to Fulham, who have previously been reported to have slapped a £90m price-tag on their midfielder.

Despite interested being announced elsewhere, A Bola offer no mention of Liverpool.

West Ham take Palhinha lead

It’s a shame that Palhinha isn’t a good three or four years younger than he is. If the Fulham man was 24 or 25 this summer, you’d feel Liverpool may well pull the trigger on him.

Instead, at 28, he doesn’t feel like enough of a long-term upgrade for Fabinho to justify the high fee.

That really is a shame, because Palhinha genuinely looked like he could be the answer to Liverpool’s prayers last season.

Big, tall, aggressive and seemingly everywhere, he was reminiscent of Fabinho in his prime. Even Gary Neville was impressed, labelling Palhinha as ‘fantastic’ on The Overlap back in February.

Despite his age, if the price was right, it might not be the worst idea in the world for Liverpool to pursue him.

They could install the former Sporting man as a ready-made starter while they blooded a youngster like Romeo Lavia. But with the deal set to go over £50m, it’s probably too big a pill for the Reds to swallow.

West Ham may have no such worries, though. The Hammers have just banked an enormous fee for Declan Rice and could do with replacing him, too. In that respect, Palinha would look a good fit. We’re not sure a Liverpool response will arrive, but you never know.