Congratulations to Brazil
You might not have done the business over in Russia, but your sooner-than-anticipated exit from the World Cup has at least accelerated one of the biggest WTF transfers of the summer.
Remember Paulinho? The guy who was rubbish at Tottenham and so went to China for a bit, only to be signed by Barcelona and prove he was actually quite good after all? Yeah, him. Well, despite only arriving at the Camp Nou a year ago, it appears he’s heading back to China once again.
Guangzhou Evergrande, the club he left to join the La Liga side last summer, have confirmed on their official website that they’ve agreed a deal to bring him back to the Chinese Super League.
Here, look…
Reports claim that the 29-year-old will cost Guangzhou somewhere in the region of €50m (£44.2m), meaning the La Liga champions have made a profit on the €40m they forked out for him a year ago.
Paulinho played his part in Barca winning back the league title from Real Madrid last season, but is now expected to be replaced by Paris Saint-Germain’s Adrien Rabiot.
Paulinho played in every game for his national side in Russia but was unable to prevent them from being knocked out by Belgium in the quarter-finals on Friday night.
The midfielder began his career in his homeland with Corinthians before moving to White Hart Lane in 2013. He spent two years at Spurs before moving to China for the first time. The fact he’s now on the brink of his second spell there will come as a surprise to many…
