Pedro Porro revealed he spoke with his good friend and our new signing Joao Palhinha ahead of his move to north London.
Pals from their Sporting CP days where they played alongside each other between 2020 and 2022, the duo are now set to be reunited after Joao completed his loan move to the club from FC Bayern.
First meeting as Pedro made the loan move from Manchester City to Sporting five years ago, the pair went on to play over 50 times together in the green and white hoops of the Lisbon-based side – and became good friends in the process.
So, we thought there could be no one better to give us a bit of insight into our new Portuguese midfielder than our Spanish full-back… only for it to be revealed that Joao had already reached out to him to find out more about our storied club.
“I’ve spoken with him already!” Pedro smiled as we asked for his reaction to the signing. “He asked me everything about Spurs. Things as well like where you live… Of course, Palhinha lived in London when he was at Fulham but that’s a long way away from our training ground. It may be London, but the traffic is crazy so he asked me, I spoke with him, and he was relaxed.
“I spoke with him and told him that the club is amazing. You have everything here. The most important thing is that when you play well, it is incredible. Of course, I’m happy he’s coming. When you have a team-mate maybe three years ago… I’ve since played against him when he was at Bayern and against him when he was with Fulham. He’s a good guy. I like him.
“He’s also excited to come here. When I arrived at Sporting, Palhinha is the one person in my life that I had the best relationship with in the dressing room. We’re good friends. For us, this signing is very, very good because he is a good person. That is the most important thing, that he is a good person. I think the people here will like him.
“On the pitch, he is consistent, a hard-working person, a little bit aggressive. I like Palhinha because, to play in his position (central midfield), you need that aggression when the ball is in your half. And that is the best attribute of Palhinha – that aggression. I’ve seen it in training and it’s similar in games. If there’s one person who likes aggression and intensity, it’s Palhinha – and that is good for us.”