Fulham open to selling Joao Palhinha for the right price amid Liverpool, Man City, Chelsea and Bayern Munich links

Fulham vice-chairmain Tony Khan has told talkSPORT the club would consider any offers that ‘make sense’ for Joao Palhinha.

The Cottagers chief has hailed the midfielder as a core part of Marco Silva’s team and a ‘huge’ part of the club, but admits any player is for sale for the right price.

That approach to business was on display over the summer, when Fulham cashed in on top goalscorer Aleksandar Mitrovic when Saudi Arabia came calling for the big Serbian.

Khan insists he ‘would have loved for Mitro to be at Fulham forever’, but the player’s wish to leave and Al Hilal’s £50million offer for the striker ‘made sense for everyone’.

With Mitrovic gone after a number of rumour-filled windows, the next saga quickly became the future of Palhinha, with his solid performances in midfield attracting a host of suitors.

The 28-year-old Portuguese star was close to also leaving the London club last summer and even travelled to Germany on deadline day in September to seal a transfer to Bayern Munich, only for the deal to fall through due to Fulham’s failure to find a replacement.

In the following weeks, Palhinha then signed a new five-year contract that runs until 2028 with the option of a further year, but it appears clear why the club wanted him to sign those terms.

Losing Palhinha would be a huge blow for the Cottagers, but it appears their £60m price tag on the midfielder is an affordable price for several clubs linked with an interest, including Premier League giants Liverpool, Man City and Chelsea.

And speaking to talkSPORT from Super Bowl’s Radio Row in Las Vegas, Khan - whose father Shahid also owns NFL franchise the Jacksonville Jaguars - admitted could leave if the right offer is made.

“Joao Palhinha is a phenomenal player and I think Joao’s acclimation to the Premier League has shown that he is an amazing player,” said the Fulham chief. “He’s a huge part of the core of Fulham and we love having him here.

“I would want him as part of the team for as long as possible and we were very happy to extend his contract, but if an offer came along that would make sense for everyone I think that’s something you have to consider with every player at the right time. 

“We wanted to keep him and we have kept him, he’s staying with us and there’s a lot of demand for Palhinha. He was a great signing for us.

“I love working with Marco Silva and he’s someone I work really closely with over transfers and building the squad. I talk to him on a regular basis about these things, we made a great signing with Joao and there’s now a huge market, eyes have opened. 

“He’s a great player for Fulham, we love having him and I want Joao to stay with us as long as possible.

“But it’s part of the business any time you sign a player potentially you know you’re hopefully going to grow their value and that might mean people are going to come in.

“It’s an exciting part of the industry, but certainly he as a person is central to our team and we love having him at Fulham.”

While rival Premier League clubs have recently fallen foul of financial rules due to their spending, Khan says he is proud to have built the Fulham squad while staying in the green through buying and selling.

And, while it might not be what fans want to hear,  it appears it’s a long-term strategy that he’s sticking to.

“All the clubs in the Premier League are bound to operate within the constraints of Financial Fair Play, and we are doing everything we can and we have had some good success in taking the team up to the Premier League and maintaining and growing the club,” he explained.

“We’ve been able to do that in compliance with FFP - we’re very proud of that and we want to continue that. 

“We made moves this past summer to add to a squad that we were very happy with and that has done very great work - we have a core of a squad that we believe in. 

“In January the key thing for us was to get a striker, because we lost Mitro and while Raul Jimenez came in and did excellent work and was a great signing, it was unfortunate he got injured.

“But we went out and addressed that in the market after Raul’s injury, we got a good deal and fair agreement for Broja and I think that was a good signing that made financial sense to us.”