Barcelona sign Brazilian midfielder Paulinho for €40m

Barcelona has put Paulinho’s buy-out clause at 120 million euros

Barcelona have signed Brazil international midfielder Paulinho from Chinese club Guangzhou Evergrande for 40m euros (£36.4m) after a deal was agreed.

It would be Barcelona’s first signing since they sold striker Neymar to Paris St-Germain for a world record £200m.

Paulinho, now 29, joined Tottenham for £17m from Corinthians in 2013 and moved to China two years later.

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He will have a medical in Spain on Thursday with a view to completing the move the same day.

Paulinho Bezerra, FC Barcelona's new signing https://t.co/TGWrKjWkfG

👋🇧🇷 Welcome, Paulinho!

🔵🔴 #BeBarça #ForçaBarça pic.twitter.com/DoqmRFpunu

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) August 14, 2017

Paulinho has established himself as a regular in the Brazil side since the appointment of Tite as coach last year.

He has scored nine goals in 41 international appearances since making his debut in 2011, and was a member of the squad that won the Confederations Cup in 2013.

He played a significant part in Evergrande winning last season’s Chinese Super League and is set to leave with them five points clear at the top of the table this term.

Barcelona have also made bids for Borussia Dortmund forward Ousmane Dembele and Liverpool attacking midfielder Philippe Coutinho.

Dortmund rejected the bid and have since suspended Dembele for missing training, while Coutinho handed in a transfer request after Liverpool turned down Barcelona’s offer.

Born José Paulo Bezerra Maciel Júnior, Paulinho began his playing career with Pão de Açúcar, joining the youth squad in 2004.

After failing to break through into the first team, he joined Lithuanian side FC Vilnius in 2006.

He played well for the club during his two seasons in Lithuania, scoring five goals from 38 domestic appearances, but at the end of the 2007 LFF Lyga campaign, FC Vilnius were relegated to the second division.

He left the club where he moved to Poland, signing for Ekstraklasa side ŁKS Łódź.

Following one season in Poland where Paulinho made 17 league appearances, he returned to Brazil and his first club Pão de Açúcar in the summer of 2008.

After a single successful season, Paulinho was on the move again, joining Série B side Bragantino in 2009.