Paulinho is a Barcelona player – what has the world come to?
As recently as March, the Brazilian was voted as Tottenham’s worst ever signing in a poll with FourFourTwo. An incredible resurgence in Chinese football has dispelled his torrid Premier League spell to history, though.
And although his remarkable renaissance took place in the Far East, his performances so far for Barcelona have justified the move.
He was the first purchase of the £198 million war chest after Neymar’s departure to Paris Saint-Germain, arriving for €40 million from Guangzhou Evergrande.
The move certainly raised a few eyebrows and, as per Goal.com, the club shop sold just one Paulinho jersey on the day of his unveiling. He might procure a few more sales now, mind.
The midfielder marked his Barcelona debut with a late winner against Getafe, thrashing home with his right-foot to inspire an away victory.
He carried on where he left off against Eibar, heading home from a corner as Barça stretched their legs in a Camp Nou thrashing.
Incredibly, it saw Paulinho usurp Luis Suarez in the Blaugrana goal scoring charts this season and score as many goals in two games as Andres Iniesta has in three years.
Perhaps his finest moment of the game, however, came in the build-up to Denis Suarez’s strike. Paulinho showed an almost telepathic connection with Lionel Messi to destroy Eibar’s defence with one simple dummy.
Check it out below:
A touch of class and one that will leave Tottenham fans scratching their heads. Besides, where was that kind of skill at White Hart Lane two years ago?
At the time of writing, the home side lead 5-1 with Messi harvesting his 49th career hat-trick.
You just can’t stop Barcelona when they’re in the mood. Brilliant stuff.
Do you think Paulinho will be a success at Barcelona this season? Have your say in the comments section below.