Barcelona’s first signing after their world record 222 million euro sale of Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain has been officially confirmed today, and bizarrely enough, it is Spurs reject Paulinho, who is currently plying his trade in the Chinese Super League with Guangzhou.
Paulinho has been signed for 40 million euros, which makes him the fourth most expensive Barca signing after Neymar, Luis Suarez and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. 40 million euros is also the sum the Catalan giants paid for David Villa several years ago.
While Paulinho’s club career has never quite taken off- he’s played in Lithuania, Poland (the Polish club he represented LKS Lodz are now in the third tier, and they will receive a portion of the transfer fee), and in Brazil before joining Spurs, he’s a regular in the national team currently under Tite.
Paulinho has been an ever present for Guangzhou in his two seasons in China (4460 out of 4700 possible playing minutes), but many fans, perhaps rightly, are questioning whether this is the right man for a club that expects to be competing for the Champions League. He’s already 29 and has been given a five year contract, with his release clause put at 120 million euros.
It’s perhaps a like for like replacement in terms of nationality- one Brazilian for another. Another joke on social media, taking potshots at the Barca board, talks of the fans wanting Paulo Dybala and Philippe Coutinho and the club giving them Paulinho instead.
Guangzhou have also made a tidy profit from the transfer, they signed him from Spurs for 14 million euros.
