PAULINHO is stunned by his transformation from Tottenham reject to Barcelona superstar - but claims Mauricio Pochettino always played him out of position.
The freescoring midfielder, who has more goals this term than Cristiano Ronaldo, feared his career was on the slide when he exited Spurs for Chinese Super League side Guangzhou Evergrande two years ago aged 27.
But now he is a Barca lynchpin, ahead of Saturday's El Clasico against Ronaldo's Real Madrid, and a key part of Brazil's plans for next summer's World Cup.
The former Corinthians star told Mail Online how his Spurs career nosedived once Pochettino became boss in 2014.
Paulinho, who was a regular under previous chiefs Andre Villas-Boas and Tim Sherwood, said: "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."
Paulinho, though, revived his career in China, winning six trophies and regaining his Brazil place. But he reveals he only took links with Barcelona seriously when Nou Camp legend asked him about the move during Brazil's friendly with Argentina last summer.
Paulinho said: "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."
The 29-year-old is the first top-class player to take a step back up after first moving to China. And he admits he would "never" have believed he would return to Europe with a club as big as Barcelona.
But when his agent first told him of Barcelona's interest, Paulinho still played it cool.
He said: "My attitude was: "When you have something concrete then we'll sit down and decide if it is right for me. "I'm here in China and I don't need anything crazy in my career right now".
But he added: "This is Barcelona we are talking about. I kept saying, 'This is not just any club'.
Now he is facing Ronaldo and Co on equal terms - as a goalscorer to rival his Barca team-mates Messi and Luis Suarez.
From The Sun
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