The purchase of Paulinho raised a smile from many. As the summer transfer window ticked along, few would have expected the former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder to make a €40m move, trading the Chinese Super League for Barcelona, but he arrived with little in the way of fanfare. Rather than excitement, the atmosphere surrounding the deal was one of incredulousness and confusion, a barrage of negative opinions surrounding one main question: why?
Over the course of the last few months, Paulinho has made the thinking behind securing his signature clear. As the Brazilian’s smiling face accompanied Barca’s team news graphic on Twitter in the build-up to the Blaugrana’s recent 4-0 win over Deportivo La Coruna, it prefaced a brace on the night for the ex-Guangzhou Evergrande star, highlighting in no uncertain terms how he is feeling on one of the biggest stages in Spanish football.
Plenty has been spoken about the idea of a Barcelona DNA, an archetypal player that suits the style in Catalonia’s capital and the La Masia conveyor belt which tries to bring exactly that profile of player to the top table to complement the first-team squad. Recently, however, that particular river has run rather dry, with short-term solutions sought as opposed to organic promotions. Paulinho was one of the last in a long line of signings to try and give Barca the squad depth to match Real Madrid: Lucas Digne, Samuel Umtiti, Aleix Vidal, Denis Suarez, Gerard Deulofeu and Paco Alcacer.
What Paulinho adds, however, is a completely different profile, and that means he heads into this weekend's Clasico with an important role to play. He no longer has a point to prove, having netted six goals already this season, but instead provides an extra edge that Barca could not previously call upon. The Brazil international does stand taller than many within the Barcelona ranks, but he also times his runs well and links up excellently with the likes of Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi in and around the box.
Ernesto Valverde has given Paulinho relative freedom to get up in close support of the front two, ensuring Luis Suarez isn't overly isolated. Earlier in the season, the Uruguayan was snatching at his chances and lacked spark; now, with Paulinho supplementing him, that particular cloud over the striker's head has lifted.
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Paulinho provides an interesting link between midfield and attack. He's certainly not a No.10 - his game largely revolves around well-timed runs - but he does have the technical ability to keep everything neat and tidy in tight pockets of space. It is his powerful running and broad frame that make him a striking contrast to his teammates, who tend to rely on a low centre of gravity to work their own magic. Heading into a fiery El Clasico, with Real Madrid desperate to gain back some ground in the title race, he has the physicality required to hold his own against los Blancos’ bruising spine.
While Barcelona’s general game plan may revolve heavily around Messi - as it should - Paulinho offers that slice of something different. Just as he burst into the penalty area versus Getafe, holding off the advances of Djene before rifling a shot home from a tight angle, he can do a couple of specific things that others within Valverde’s ranks simply cannot - without the sacrifice of technical ability.
The midfielder has already proved his doubters wrong, but his move to Barcelona would never have been motivated by the thought of having to turn public feeling around at his own club. Silverware is the aim, and in Valverde’s well-polished and patient machine, there are few players who will be asked to do much beside the norm of circulating possession. After being used sparingly in the opening weeks of the season, Paulinho has worked his way into the starting XI and looks set to stay there for a while longer.
While neat performances, a physical edge and half a dozen league strikes by mid-December are all important contributions, an El Clasico goal could set the 29-year-old on the road to cult status. After his bad reception and subsequent hard work in an obviously uphill battle, it would be something of an underdog story, but if there is anything that Paulinho has proved at Camp Nou, it is that, contrary to online belief, he is far from a second-rate operator.
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