• Paulinho
• Liga MX

Former Sporting forward Paulinho made a sensational impact on his full debut for Mexican side Toluca at the weekend, scoring twice in a 3-2 victory over Juarez.

Paulinho has been training with his new club for two weeks, having joined from the Lions in an €8m move in June. After a 30-minute cameo at Chivas on the opening day of the season last week, the Portuguese was installed into Renato Paiva’s line-up for Sunday’s home match against Juarez.

João Palhinha has finally competed his long-awaited transfer from Fulham to Bundesliga heavyweights Bayern Munich, signing a four-year deal in Germany.

Palhinha had been set to move to Bayern at the end of last summer’s transfer window, but the deal collapsed at the last minute. Now the Portugal midfielder has got what he describes as a dream move to one of Europe’s biggest clubs.

It would be true to say that defensive midfielders don’t always get the credit they deserve.

Their output isn’t quantified in goals, assists etc, which are the simple measuring blocks that make it easy for fair-weather fans to understand which players are performing at an elite level.

But soccer’s statistical revolution has at least offered a peak behind the curtain for all players, with numerous metrics revealing the importance of defence-minded midfielders even in a sport that is obsessed with offensive output.

It’s one of the reasons why Fulham and Portugal midfielder João Palhinha is so in demand this summer – a player whose value to club and country goes far beyond basic numerical measures. 

Rafa Silva has completed his move from Benfica to Besiktas on a three-year contract, with the former Portugal international signing a lucrative deal with the Turkish club on Thursday.

Out of contract at Benfica in July, Rafa had been linked to various clubs over recent weeks, fielding interest from fellow Super Lig giants Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe, as well as clubs in the Saudi Arabian Pro League.