After arriving as one of the ‘magnificent seven’ brought in to replace Gareth Bale in 2013, Paulinho’s career at Spurs failed to really ignite.
The Brazilian came in off the back of Confederations Cup success with his country over Spain just a week before his move, and there were even suggestions that the likes of Inter and Real Madrid were interested in signing him.
The midfielder struggled to really stand out in a team trying to compete for the top four under Andre Villas-Boas, with perhaps his back-heeled winner against Cardiff his most eye-catching moment.
Aside from that, Paulinho seemed to coast by in games, and his red card for a high boot on Luis Suarez in a 5-0 home thrashing at the hands of Liverpool largely summed up a hugely disappointing Spurs career.
It was no surprise that he was eventually sold by Daniel Levy to Chinese Super League side Guangzhou Evergrande for a reported fee of around £10m – a £7m loss from what the north Londoners paid to sign him for in the first place.
In a piece by The Guardian’s David Hytner following Paulinho’s departure to Guangzhou, he noted: “Paulinho was well liked within the club at Tottenham. He was a quiet and extremely religious family man and his professionalism was not questioned. His English was passable and he understood everything clearly. It was not that he failed to settle, rather that he could not make his mark.
“Yet it says much for Paulinho’s current standing in the game that many Tottenham fans have lauded their chairman, Daniel Levy, as a magician for not only removing the player’s £55,000-a-week wage from the club’s books but for receiving such a healthy fee for him. It still represents a loss on the £17m or so that Tottenham pledged to Corinthians but, frankly, nobody saw eight figures coming back for Paulinho.”
While the Brazilian’s performances in China eventually earned him a big-money move to Barcelona, he found himself quickly out of the picture with the La Liga giants after less than 50 games for them.
Now valued at just £4.5m, and plying his trade back in his native Brazil with former club Corinthians, Paulinho may be best remembered by Spurs fans as someone who had a ‘what could have been’ career.
AND in other news – Sold in 2020, now worth £34m: Spurs suffered double disaster over 26 y/o “machine”