Paulinho joins Guangzhou Evergrande on loan

Barcelona had put Paulinho’s buy-out clause at 120 million euros before his loan move to Guangzhou Evergrande

Barcelona midfielder Paulinho has left to rejoin his former club Guangzhou Evergrande, the Chinese Super League club have announced.

The 29-year-old will return on loan after just one season in Spain, with no transfer fee announced.

🔵🔴 @paulinhop8 at Barça:
⚽️ 49 games
👟 9 goals
🏆 2 trophies pic.twitter.com/vIC1xRfv5N

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) July 8, 2018

Paulinho played 34 games and scored nine goals as Barcelona won La Liga last term, and started all five of Brazil’s World Cup games in Russia.

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The Brazil midfielder made 63 league appearances for Guangzhou Evergrande from 2015-2017.

Thank you for everything, @paulinhop8! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/De4FbrhDMq

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) July 8, 2018

A mainstay of Brazil boss Tite’s side in Russia, Paulinho scored once in the 2-0 group-stage win over Serbia and played 73 minutes of their 2-1 quarter-final defeat by Belgium before being replaced by goalscorer Renato Augusto.

He joined Tottenham for £17m from Corinthians in 2013, before moving to China in 2015.