Signing Paulinho Is A Poor Move By Barcelona And There’s No Hiding From That Fact
Ex- Tottenham player Paulinho recently arrived on the European scene again when he signed for Barcelona for €40m. Prior to that, he was plying his trade in the Chinese Super League with Guangzhou Evergrande. He was in China for a total of 3 seasons where he impressed enough, for Barcelona to come calling for his services.
Prior to his Chinese adventure, Paulinho spent 2 years in North London with Spurs, where he impressed only in his first season there, under Andre Vilas Boas. At Tottenham, he was considered a failure, especially in his second season where he failed to register a single goal in the league. When he first joined Tottenham, he was backed to become a goal scoring midfielder with great prowess.
Manager Mauricio Pochettino eventually lost patience with him and let Paulinho go to Guangzhou Evergrande. The Brazilian enjoyed decent success in China, where he scored a total number of 17 goals, playing both as a combative midfielder and an attacking midfielder as well. Having lost Neymar to PSG, Barcelona wanted to bring in flair players, but I reckon the signing of Paulinho will not go down well.
He was average during his stay in North London and simply isn’t good enough to play in a Barcelona shirt where the likes of Rafinha, Andres Iniesta, Ivan Rakitic, Roberto and Arda Turan are likely to be ahead of him in the pecking order when it comes to the midfield department. Paulinho simply doesn’t match the class of any of those midfielders.
Although Ousmane Dembele has been brought in to replace Neymar, the club are still throwing a spanner in the works of Liverpool in order to sign Philippe Coutinho, who can be another central midfield option for the Catalonian side. So that further dampens the prospect of Paulinho. He is already 29 and paying €40million for a player who has already reached his peak in terms of his career isn’t a good deal by Barcelona.
The Barcelona board have been loath to encourage such a deal that could cost them loads. Paulinho’s arrival is one that surprised me and many Barcelona fans alike.
Every player that joins Barcelona needs to come under the “world- class” category, and Paulinho simply doesn’t fit the bill. He is mediocre and average at best and doesn’t suit the deck when it comes to Barcelona’s standards. He isn’t even a long-term option and is a short-term fix following Neymar’s departure from the club.
To keep it short, this is pathetically poor business by Barcelona!