West Ham Unitedare wasting no time at all following their victory in the Europa Conference League final against Italian outfit Fiorentina.
The fans and players might be basking in the glory of the club's first major trophy for 43 years, but the east London club are already looking to make moves in the summer transfer window.
Following their victory, club chairman David Sullivan confirmed that Declan Rice would be leaving the club and that they 'had to get a replacement – or several replacements' to fill the void he will inevitably leave.
The club have a list of targets for the coming window, including Manchester City's Kalvin Phillips, Southampton's James Ward Prowse and Leicester City's Harvey Barnes, but it is Fulham's Joao Palhinha that is the club's primary target, per Mail Online.
What's the latest on Joao Palhinha?
According to the publication, the Hammers are confident that they will be able to tempt him to make the switch to the London Stadium, even with the Cottagers having paid the £20m fee to bring the Brazilian to west London only last year.
Despite it being just his first season of Premier League football, the Fulham powerhouse has been the side's most important midfielder, notching up an impressive 147 tackles across the season.
His addition to the side has seen Marco Silva's men finish in the top half of the table in 10th place – a seriously impressive achievement when many were expecting the newly promoted team to go straight back down.
Earlier in the season, Sky Sports pundit and commentator Gary Neville described the Lisbon-born midfielder as "fantastic" on his show The Overlap.
However, his obvious quality might cause issues for the Irons, as they aren't the only ones admiring Fulham's star man.
At the end of April, Football Insider reported that Tottenham Hotspur were about to 'line up' an offer for the player. Even worse for David Moyes' men was the news that Chelsea and Manchester United were also 'ready to launch moves' for the Portugal international.
Would Joao Palhinha be a good signing for West Ham?
If it is true that Rice has all but left the club, then bringing in the services of a player like Palhinha would be excellent business for West Ham.
The former Sporting CP star has received rave reviews for his performances this year, with Steve Sidwell saying: "He has been absolutely sensational this season."
Rio Ferdinand is also a fan, saying: "You need someone like that in front of you as a defender."
Meanwhile, according to WhoScored, the 6 foot 3 all-action midfielder has averaged a respectable rating of 6.93 across his 35 Premier League games this season.
His underlying stats are seriously impressive as well – as per to FBref, who have compared him to players in a similar position across Europe's top five leagues, Palhinha, unsurprisingly, sits in the top 1% for tackles per 90, which no doubt led to his engine room partner Harrison Reed to describe him as a "tackling machine" back in April.
The £50k-per-week machine also ranks within the top 8% for aerial duals won and the top 12% for clearances per 90.
It's entirely plausible to think that if he were to be placed within a better team, then we would also see some of his other numbers start to improve.
If West Ham can get this deal done, it is surely a no-brainer, especially the need to replace Moyes' leading talisman with someone suitable and perhaps Palhinha's aforementioned returns and experience in the English top-flight make him that man indeed.
