Wolves joined by Manchester United and Newcastle in 'pursuit' of long-term transfer target

Wolverhampton Wanderers have reportedly been joined by Manchester United and Newcastle United in their 'pursuit' of Joao Palhinha.

The 26-year-old has been linked with Wolves back to when Nuno Espirito Santo was still at Molineux as far back as 2020, with the player also emerging as a target last summer after Bruno Lage 's arrival.

Palhinha spoke of a desire to stay in Lisbon with Sporting back in November while on international duty with Portugal and did indeed sign a new contract until 2026 a month later, but links to the Premier League continue.

The defensive midfielder is due to be in Manchester next month, but that is in a purely sporting capacity as the Portuguese champions travel for the return leg against Manchester City after being humbled 5-0 in the first leg, a match Palhinha played the full 90 minutes.

Reports in Jornal de Notícias (via Sport Witness ) claim that Wolves had a scout watching when the Portugal international came on as a second-half substitute in a 2-2 draw against league leaders Porto earlier this month before being sent off in a mass melee deep into added-time.

It adds that player's agents apparently received approaches last month, but know that there is more chance of a move in the summer, suggesting that Sporting will ask for at least half of Palhinha’s release clause, €30 million (£25 million), to sanction any such transfer.

Earlier this month, Portuguese sports newspaper A Bola also dubbed Molineux as the 'most likely destination' for the player this off-season.

Whether the player is willing to move is a different story though, based on previous comments made in recent months.

Ahead of signing a contract extension, the player stated after a match for Portugal on the subject of