‘Everyone said my career was over... now I’m at Barcelona'

From being racially abused in Lithuania and ripped off in Poland in his younger years, to ending up in Brazilian third division and almost quitting at the age of 19, football has not been all that kind to Paulinho.

He now plays alongside Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi at Barcelona, outscoring Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo in La Liga. Not even he believed his luck would change, especially after a failed spell at Tottenham 

"If someone had said that, before the next World Cup, I would be playing for Barcelona I would have said: 'Never'. It just shows you how quickly things change in football," Paulinho told 'The Guardian'.

"When I first left England everyone was talking about how Paulinho's career was over. And now I'm back in the Brazil team and with Barcelona. It's been a rollercoaster of a career," he added. "In football you just never know what's next,".

The Brazilian midfielder spoke about his time at Spurs, and how the departure of Villas-Boas was a huge blow: "He buys me in July 2013 and by December he's gone and Tim Sherwood is in charge," he said. "There was no problem with Sherwood. He was very young but he was a good coach and I finished the season in the team."

Then came the next change from Sherwood to Pochettino and thus started Paulinho's woes in north London. In June 2015, he was sold to Guanzhou Evergrande for £10 million.

"My first game with Pochettino I played in my position. But after that I played in every single position but mine. If you are not playing in your position in a league as competitive as England then it is difficult."

"In a year with him I played in my position two or three times and I played well. But that's not to say that I had a problem with Pochettino. It was his decision."

"When I went from Tottenham to China a lot of people said that was it, my career was over. I had a couple of other offers at the time but they were both loans and I would have had to go back at the end. I just wanted to play."

"I've heard that said many times that I'm supposed to be shutting people up but people are going to say what they want and all I can do is keep working," said Paulinho, who has few regrets in his career after ending up at Barcelona. "People are always going to talk. They'll say: 'He's good now because he is at Barca'. Or 'He was only good then because he was in China'. I don't have to prove anything to anyone. I don't play for the critics, I play for my team-mates," he concluded.