Conflicting reports on the future of Corinthians midfielder Paulinho have emerged from the press over the last 24 hours with some reports claiming that the Brazilian international has already signed for Spurs ahead of the new season.
While Brazil are still involved in the Confederations Cup that seems unlikely but former Arsenal player Edu, now director of football at Paulinho’s current side, confirmed that talks are in progress.
“The situation is well under way,” he said.
“We have to agree on some details of the negotiations, so I can’t say if he will leave yet, but the negotiations are going well.”
Paulinho is 24 years old and is firmly established now as one of the most important members of the Brazilian national side. An attacking midfielder, his goals to games ratio is pretty impressive both at club and international level. It comes in at around the one in four mark and includes that stunner against England in a friendly earlier this month.
The story should gather momentum once the Confederations Cup comes to a close but do you rate Paulinho and is he likely to become our first signing of a vital summer?
Paulinho would be a great signing, but i am not sure how or where he would play in the team unless we change to a 4-3-3 formation. The 4-3-3 system for me reduces the potential attacking potency of a team. My preferred system is a 4-2-3-1, where three attacking midfielders support a lone striker, providing they all have an eye for a goal. Support by two holding midfielders allows both support to the forewords as well as providing cover for the defence. Who knows these are my early morning thoughts, backed up by a cup of tea, maybe the fog will clear and i will see things differently ?
Either way a quality signing, that is for sure !
COYS Adere est Facere !!!!!
Or you could see it as 3 bossing the game and 3 doing the damage. Although 4231 is a great system, I feel we don’t really have the players for it. For me, Paulinho means VB is heading the 433 route…
Lets just hope that he isn’t bring brought in as Bales replacement 🙁 so where would bale play in either of the formations above with Paulinho I’m assuming as a central AM ?
Modric try to convinced that Real Madrid is perfectly suit for Bale!! Come On You Modric! Do it more oftenly!!!
Ian Darke said he was coming to Spurs prior to Brazil Italy game
personally I think we could pull of something similar to a 4-2-3-1 as long as we sign a decent enough striker
4 at the back same as last season unless bae leaves in which case I would love to see fabio coentrao his replacement, consistent performer not getting enough football purely because of having to compete with marcelo at madrid
2 in the centre as sandro and dembele who were unstoppable up until sandros injury
3 behind the striker bale, paulinho and lennon…all have the ability to alternate if bale has to come inside, all capable of creating and scoring…can’t see us signing bernard or lamela if we are paying that much for paulinho (this is levy after all)
and finally up front personally I’d like to see us test villa with a 20/25 million bid for benteke. strong, young and proven in this league. if not then soldado or daimio. keep defoe as back up sell ade if the rumours are true fenerbache would pay 10 million for him
i think he would have an oscar like impact in his first year. i don’t think he’s ready, but the potential is definitely there. 15m is a little steep for us, but if we can do it, lets do it before some other club snatch him up. he’s still only 24 so i can see somebody with deeper pockets outbidding us in the last minute. if he were younger or older, i would say this is our best bet. also, he better not be a replacement for Bale.
I’m brazilian and I’ve been seen Paulinho play the whole time he’s been at Corinthians. I can assure you he is NOT an attacking midfielder. He’s more like box-to-box.
Brazilian football is lacking defensive midfielders who look comfortable with the ball, so Paulinho is been highly rated because he does not compromise on a defending role, but also gets to the box often and score goals.
Every time he plays well, Corinthians play well!
I think it’s more likely AVB plays him alongside with Sandro and push Dembélé forward, with Bale on the right side, as AVB likes his wingers cutting inside – he did it to Hulk, Mata, Sturridge, James Rodriguez, Bale, Dempsey, Siggy…
Not only the three behind the striker could change positions, but also the two on midfield change with those three. It’s pretty interesting!
Paulinho is definitly a good capture. Now Spurs need a good striker.