Paulinho’s arrival was hailed as a coup by Tottenham but two years later there is a general acceptance that Daniel Levy did remarkably well to get £10m for him. What went wrong?

Paulinho’s words were loaded with emotion. “I was stuck and had lost hope and confidence,” the Brazil midfielder said. It was August 2013, weeks after his arrival at Tottenham Hotspur from Corinthians, and he was reflecting on his first foray into European football, as a 19-year-old at FC Vilnius in Lithuania, when he suffered racial abuse from supporters and questioned whether he wanted to carry on in football.

The circumstances are different now – happily – and yet Paulinho might find resonance in that feeling of bewilderment, of the erosion of the conviction that he has held in his ability. The questions are coming thick and fast for the 26-year-old. How did he come to endure such a nightmarish season at Tottenham last time out? Did it begin with his toils for Brazil at the World Cup the previous summer? And, above all, China? Why China?

Paulinho makes £9.9m switch from Tottenham to Guangzhou Evergrande Read more

Paulinho has completed an eye-opening £10m move to Guangzhou Evergrande, the reigning Chinese Super League champions and one of the powerhouses of Asian football. They are chasing their fifth consecutive domestic title and are in the quarter-finals of the Asian Champions League – the competition they won in 2013 under Marcello Lippi.

Yet it says much for Paulinho’s current standing in the game that many Tottenham fans have lauded their chairman, Daniel Levy, as a magician for not only removing the player’s £55,000-a-week wage from the club’s books but for receiving such a healthy fee for him. It still represents a loss on the £17m or so that Tottenham pledged to Corinthians but, frankly, nobody saw eight figures coming back for Paulinho.

It is a far cry from the excitement that surrounded his arrival in London. Tottenham were acquiring a Copa Libertadores and Club World Cup winner – Paulinho played well in Corinthians’ victory over Chelsea in the final in December 2012 – and a burgeoning force on the international scene.

Paulinho had scored against England at the Maracaña in June 2013 and been an important part of the Brazil team that won the Confederations Cup a few weeks later. Other clubs had reportedly looked at him, including Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City. This was a coup for Tottenham.

Paulinho (@paulinhop8) Now I am facing a new challenge in my life! Starting at the Chinese reigning champion!!! #GuangzhouEvergrande 🇨🇳⚽️ pic.twitter.com/TCHhNs594p

Paulinho found a fellow Portuguese speaker in charge at White Hart Lane – in the manager, André Villas-Boas – while his larger-than-life compatriot, Sandro, would help him to integrate. Villas-Boas started Paulinho in each one of his Premier League fixtures that season, up to and including the 5-0 home defeat against Liverpool in mid-December, after which the manager was sacked. Paulinho was sent off in that game for a high boot on Luis Suárez.

Villas-Boas used Paulinho as a No8 and his performances were solid enough – nothing outstanding but generally worth a six or seven out of 10. Paulinho was a disciplined part of Villas-Boas’s system and he tried to inject urgency. Yet the criticism, which would harden over the remainder of Paulinho’s White Hart Lane career, was that he habitually failed to stand out.

There is precious little by which to remember his time in English football – save, perhaps, the wonderful backheeled winner in the last minute at Cardiff City in September 2013. The supporters saw him play and yet they never really saw him play. When Villas-Boas’s successor, Tim Sherwood, bemoaned how many of the squad’s players were “much of a muchness,” Paulinho was prominent in his thoughts.

Sherwood could not be accused of mothballing him. After Paulinho had served his suspension for the red card against Liverpool, Sherwood brought him back into the starting line-up against Stoke City. Unfortunately Paulinho was crocked by Charlie Adam and ruled out for one month. When fit, though, Sherwood once again restored him straight away and, apart from a spell in March 2014, he always started him in the league.

Sherwood’s successor, Mauricio Pochettino, did not and Paulinho’s woes came to follow a chicken-and-egg-style downward spiral, related to a lack of opportunity and loss of confidence. He had returned late after the World Cup, in which he struggled and lost his place in Luiz Felipe Scolari’s preferred Brazil XI while he was involved, as a half-time substitute, in the 7-1 semi-final defeat by Germany, which has scarred a nation.

Paulinho did not kick a ball for Tottenham in pre-season and there was the sense that he had lost ground under Pochettino – another new manager. Even his mate, Sandro, would leave for Queens Park Rangers on the final day of the summer transfer window. Whereas Paulinho was on the back foot, others – namely Ryan Mason – had hit the ground running. Mason impressed Pochettino during pre-season and his emergence served to press Paulinho down the midfield pecking order.

Paulinho started only three league games under Pochettino and in one of them – Burnley away in early April – there was the nadir, the dreadful moment when an international-class footballer came to resemble a park player. Paulinho’s fractured rhythm and self-belief were laid bare when he miscued a shot so horribly that the travelling fans were caught between laughter and tears. In the end they settled for hands-on-head amazement.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Paulinho’s embarrassing miss for Tottenham against Burnley

The capture of Paulinho is a tonic not only for Guangzhou but for the Chinese League, which is flexing its financial muscle. Paulinho has signed a four-year contract, improving his salary handsomely, and it is doubtful whether too many realistic suitors in mainland Europe or South America could have matched the offer.

Scolari, who was appointed as Fabio Cannavaro’s managerial successor at Guangzhou in early June, has used his personal connection with Paulinho to smooth the deal. Scolari’s comments two weeks ago, though, were revealing. “I knew that China was spending a lot to improve its football and Guangzhou is one of the pioneers,” he said.

The club spent a record £10.6m on the Brazilian striker, Ricardo Goulart, in January; Demba Ba, meanwhile, has just joined Shanghai Shenhua, Didier Drogba’s old club, for an undisclosed fee.

Paulinho was well liked within the club at Tottenham. He was a quiet and extremely religious family man and his professionalism was not questioned. His English was passable and he understood everything clearly. It was not that he failed to settle, rather that he could not make his mark. Not for the first time Paulinho must start again.