When Paulinho came to London from Corinthians in 2013 there was a lot of hype - Tottenham had never spent £17m on a single player and his youtube highlights reel had starving fans excited. That transfer record would be broken again within weeks as Erik Lamela and Roberto Soldado were added to the books in what was an extremely exciting time to be a Spurs fan.
But things didn't work out that way, Paulinho ended up leaving the club two seasons later on the back of performances that saw him etched into the history books alongside the likes of Kleberson and Robinho as famous Premier League failures from Brazil.
When Luiz Felipe Scolari and Chinese club Guangzhou Evergrande came in with a €14m offer the then-25-years-old's move was seen one about greed more than football - but as the next few years transpired neither Brazilian will have had any regrets about the venture
Together they managed to win the Asian Champions League and the Chinese Super League twice and despite seemingly being in the wilderness, Paulinho's performances in that time were enough to get him back into the Brazilian team and last March he netted a hat-trick against Uruguay to help them come from behind to win in a World Cup Qualifier.
In hindsight, the midfielder's decision to leave for Asia might have just worked out pretty well and his efforts have landed him a colossal offer to make a European return with Barcelona.
The Catalan Giants have put in a bid believed to be about €40m and, even more amazingly Paulinho, might just turn down the chance to continue playing in China saying:
There are many things I need to put on the balance to make my decision, and one of the decisions is my happiness. I think, first of all, the moment that I am living, the life that I and my wife took here in China ...
We like too much about the place, the people, the moment that I am living in the club, with conquests, confident, disputing Chinese title, Champions League, China Cup, so I really do not know. I am very happy to be discussing a situation with a great club that is Barcelona, I think this is priceless.
I have no deadline to give an answer, I have been talking to my manager daily. Since the beginning of this conversation I talk to him every other day practically to know details of what has what does not have. There is no deadline for me to say yes or no, even because there has to be a conversation between Barcelona and Guangzhou, but the main answer is mine.
Like Newcastle fans when Hafem Ben Arfa signed for PSG, this might cause extreme confusion for Tottenham fans who will be wondering where on earth his talent was when he was in England, that said the Brazilian is still unproven in Europe and should he take the Barcelona offer things might not turn out so rosy for him.
The news will also come as a worry for the China sceptics as the Brazilian is now is an example of how moving to Asia is not the symbolic end of a career, nor the end of a player's chances of playing international football.
[IB Times]
