Why Bayern Munich's move for Joao Palhinha fell through on deadline day

Bayern Munich failed to finalise the transfer of Joao Palhinha prior to the Bundesliga’s deadline and the midfielder will now return to Fulham, sources have confirmed to 90min.

The Portugal international was expected to complete a move to the Allianz Arena prior to Bayern’s 5pm BST deadline.

Palhinha had spent much of Friday in Munich undergoing a medical and was even spotted wandering around the club’s training ground with a home shirt in hand ready to take pictures for his unveiling.

However, 90min understands that Fulham’s inability to line up a replacement meant that they were reluctant to sign off on Palhinha’s exit and his move to Germany has collapsed at the last minute.

Fulham have been scouring the market for potential replacements, including Tottenham Hotspur’s Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Leicester City’s Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, but have been unable to make any significant progress on those deals.

Palhinha will head back to west London after expecting to end the day as Bayern Munich’s newest star.

Despite this move falling through, Bayern Munich are still expected to sanction Ryan Gravenberch’s move to Liverpool, though they could yet pull the plug on that deal at any given moment.

Meanwhile, Fulham are expected to wrap up the signing of Alex Iwobi from Everton before the Premier League’s 11pm BST deadline.