Barcelona are not willing to pay the 40 million euros Guangzhou Evergrande want for midfielder Paulinho. The Blaugrana will go as high as 25 million euros for the Brazilian international, who would come to compete for a starting spot.

Talks with the Chinese champions will not be easy. Paulinho is one of coach Luiz Felipe Scolari's star players. About to turn 29, he is in the best form of his career and his team's reference point.

When the player has players for the national team this season (where there's a bigger impact than the Chinese Super League), everyone has seen that his performances are even better than the ones he produced when Corinthians won the Copa Libertadores and qualified for the Club World Cup.

DIFFICULTIES

Guangzhou Evergrande, like all big clubs in the Chinese Super League, are a buying club, not a selling club. That's why it will be difficult for Barça to do a deal. Brazilian clubs, for example, know how tough it is to bring a player home from China.

Paulinho, his agents and Barça don't want to cause a mess. The player was clear when he spoke of Barça's interest, recognising there's an offer from the Catalan club and explaining the decision he now has to make. He didn't want to offend anyone at Guangzhou and spoke respectfull of both clubs.

Barça director Raül Sanllehí was in Sao Paulo speaking with Paulinho's agents last week. The club want the player this summer. The window in China closes on July 14. For that reason, there's not a lot of time for a deal to be done.