Considered a major flop at Tottenham, Brazilian midfielder Paulinho has reportedly come to a decision regarding his future.

The 28-year-old Guangzhou Evergrande star had been mulling over a tempting four year contract at Barcelona over the last few days.

Paid very handsomely, Paulinho is very settled in China and was unsure about giving up regular first team football in order to join Barcelona.

Paulinho has, rather surprisingly, cemented his place in the Brazilian national team during his time in China following a torrid two year spell in England.

Unlikely to be a regular at the Camp Nou, the box-to-box midfielder could be forgiven for rejecting Barcelona with the 2018 World Cup just one year away.

Paulinho to Barcelona would be one of the most shocking transfers of the summer but it appears to be coming a real possibility.

According to Goal.com, Paulinho yesterday moved one step closer to returning to Europe by accepting the four year contract offer from Barcelona.

The former Spurs and Corinthians man supposedly saw the opportunity to play alongside Leo Messi and Neymar as too good to turn down.

Barcelona and Guangzhou Evergrande still need to agree on a transfer fee, with the Chinese club reportedly holding out for €40m.

However, the Catalan giants supposedly don't want to spend more than €25m on Paulinho, as per Goal.com.

Guangzhou Evergrande have won the last seven Chinese Super League titles and are unlikely to let their star man leave at a cut price ahead of their Asian Champions League quarter-final against Shanghai SIPG.

Few expected Paulinho to rise from the ashes after Spurs sold him for a loss to China in 2015.

Now he is closing in on a move to one of the biggest clubs in world football and could go from playing alongside Yu Hanchao and Feng Xiaoting to Luis Suarez and Messi.

Perhaps the Chinese Super League should be taken a little more seriously by those in Europe...