Spurs played me out of position but now I’m banging goals in for Barca
NO ONE ever comes back from a transfer to the Chinese Super League — that’s the conventional wisdom. Well, Paulinho is back, at Barcelona, outscoring Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, whom he faces tomorrow in the clasico.
‘Naahh!’ is his incredulous response to the question: ‘What if?’ What if someone had told him when he left Tottenham for China in 2015 that his next move would be to the Nou Camp.
‘If someone had said that, before the next World Cup, I would be playing for Barcelona I would have said, “Never!” It just shows how quickly things change,’ he says.
‘When I left England everyone was talking about how Paulinho’s career was over. And now I’m back in the Brazil team and with Barcelona. It’s been a rollercoaster.’
It has always been that way for the 29-year-old. He was racially abused in Lithuania and ripped off in Poland as a young player. He ended up in the Brazilian third division and almost quit football.
He was signed by Andre VillasBoas but then ditched by Mauricio Pochettino. And he played in Brazil’s 7-1 defeat by Germany but is now captain as they head to Russia. He says he was lining up to take a free-kick in a friendly between Brazil and Argentina last summer when Lionel Messi came up and said: ‘So, are we off to Barcelona or what?’
We should maybe start with Luis Suarez. Because Paulinho’s current Barcelona team-mate has a lot to answer for. Almost four years ago this week, Suarez scored twice as Liverpool beat Spurs 5-0.
Paulinho was sent off for kicking the Uruguayan in the chest. It had been Tottenham’s worst home defeat for 16 years and Villas-Boas was sacked the next day.
‘Yes, yes, yes. He’s mentioned it,’ says Paulinho. ‘I’ve told him, “Luis, I never touched you”.’ The red card was the least of Paulinho’s worries. The exit of Villas-Boas was a much bigger blow.
‘He buys me in July 2013 and by December he’s gone and Tim Sherwood is in charge,’ he says. ‘There was no problem with Sherwood. He was very young but he was a good coach and I finished the season in the team.’
Then came the next change from Sherwood to Pochettino, along with a change in Paulinho’s role.
‘My first game with Pochettino I played in my position. But after that I played in every single position but mine. If you are not playing in your position in a league as competitive as England then it is difficult. In a year with him I played in my position two or three times and I played well. But that’s not to say I had a problem with Pochettino. It was his decision.’
After underperforming on the left wing he was soon not in the team at all and in June 2015 he was sold to Guangzhou Evergrande for £10million. China at 27, and before the boom in expensive imports. It didn’t look good.
‘When I went from Tottenham to China a lot of people said that was it, my career was over. I had a couple of other offers but they were both loans. I just wanted to play.’
‘I can’t say anything bad about [China],’ Paulinho says. ‘It was perfect for me and my family. We had everything. The playing level did not compare with Europe but then Gervinho, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Jackson Martinez, Oscar and Hulk arrived and the league grew.’
Was it too easy after the pace of the Premier League? ‘Well it wasn’t the same,’ he says. ‘But the motivation is the same because that comes from the player. Wherever you are you have to do your best.’
His best was good enough to win six trophies, get him back in the Brazil side and pique Barcelona’s interest. At first he was cautious.
‘My agent called me and said, “We are talking to Barcelona”. My attitude was, I’m here in China and I don’t need anything crazy in my career right now. I kept saying, “This is Barcelona we are talking about”. This is not just any club.’
By the time Messi whispered in his ear he knew it was on. ‘I told him, “If you are going to take me with you then I’ll come”.’
Rumours of his arrival were met with puzzlement at first — largely because he was talked about as someone who might cover Sergio Busquets’s holding midfield position. Astute commentators likened him to Frank Lampard and the fact he is outscoring all other midfielders in La Liga suggests that likeness is spot on.
‘I’ve always been that kind of player,’ he says. ‘My way of playing is more Lampard than Busquets.’
Those in favour of his signing pointed out that he was, after all, captain of Brazil. But then he had also been on the pitch during the team’s 7-1 World Cup semi-final defeat by Germany. He was still on the bench when they shipped four goals in six first-half minutes. He was brought on at half-time for Manchester City’s Fernandinho, who had endured a nightmare against Toni Kroos.
‘I’ve never talked much about that game. What is there to say? You can lose a game 2-1 or 3-1 and say, “Oh we made this mistake and we lost”, but if you lose 7-1 there is nothing you can say.’
Brazil could face England in the quarter-finals next summer and Paulinho met familiar faces in the Wembley friendly last month.
‘England are always decent,’ he says. ‘I feel good about England. I’m not going to say England are no good just because I had a bad time there. It was a pleasure to play with those players that are now in the England team. I am still in touch with Kyle Walker.’
As he leans back into the leather sofa, he exudes a cool acceptance of all the cards dealt him during his career. His earlier insistence that he has nothing against Pochettino seemed genuine. He has not always had it easy. He suffered racist abuse in Lithuania having gone to play there aged 17.
He went unpaid in Poland before going back to play in the third tier in Brazil, then on to Corinthians and Spurs. He was close to quitting but his then wife told him: ‘You only know how to play football. And your mother and father have helped you since you were five. It will be a lack of respect if you stop.’
What do his loved ones say now? ‘We laugh about it,’ he says. ‘What would have happened if I had stopped back in 2008? I really don’t know.’
There can be few regrets for a player who ends up at Barcelona, no matter how convoluted the path. Tomorrow’s clasico is another chance to silence those who wrote him off after Spurs.
‘I’ve heard that said many times that I’m supposed to be shutting people up, but all I can do is keep working,’ he says.
‘People will say, “He’s good now because he is at Barca”. Or, “He was only good then because he was in China”. I don’t have to prove anything to anyone. I don’t play for the critics, I play for my team-mates.’
Messi and Suarez are his teammates now, and the Tottenham reject is ready to start in the biggest club fixture in the world.