Signing Paulinho for €40M is utter madness from Barcelona

Barcelona have signed Paulinho from Guangzhou Evergrande after paying €40 million for his transfer, as speculated in his release clause, according to multiple sources.

The Brazilian international midfielder, who would sign a four-year deal worth a reported €5M per season, would have completed a very unusual career path after being rejected by Tottenham Hotspurs in the English Premier League, then coming back to form in the Chinese Super League before landing at the Camp Nou at 29 years of age.

To say the signing of Paulinho is puzzling is a huge understatement. While it is disappointing to see the current Barcelona board struggling to bring world-class talent such as Philippe Coutinho or Ousmane Dembele to the Camp Nou, it is in fact much worse to see them having to pay the release clause of a player that has not been linked with any other major club in recent times.

Sure, it is clear that Paulinho has been a major contributor to the current leaders of the Chinese Super League but, honestly, it is mind-blowing to think that such achievement is suddenly enough to secure a place at Barcelona’s starting lineup.

As we discussed at much more length in Episode 14 of ‘The Barcelona Podcast’, it is unclear what Paulinho could actually add to the current Barca squad. Hit Play for more in-depth analysis of the Paulinho-to-Barcelona story:

You can also listen to previous episodes of ‘The Barcelona Podcast’ on iTunes or SoundCloud:


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