Recently, former Barcelona player Paulinho recalled a past conversation with Lionel Messi in an interview, which took place before he joined the Catalan club.
At that time, Paulinho, who played for Guangzhou Evergrande, was representing the Brazil national team in a friendly match against Argentina in Australia. During a dead ball situation, Messi approached Paulinho, who was standing by the ball, and directly asked: “So, are we going to Barcelona, or not?”
Paulinho explained that he initially thought it was just a joke or a way to distract him. The possibility of joining Barcelona seemed distant to him, as he was playing in the Chinese Super League at the time and his name was not on the radar of the European transfer market. Paulinho said: “I didn’t even have time to think. I just said: ‘If you want to take me there, I’ll go!’”
After the friendly match, Paulinho sought confirmation and called his agent to find out if there was any concrete substance behind Messi’s words. He said: “I called my agent and said: ‘Boss, for God’s sake, I’m going crazy! Tell me if this is really happening!’ I was so desperate that I even wanted to message Neymar to ask if he knew anything about it.”
The transfer was completed in the 2017 summer transfer window, with Barcelona paying around €40 million to sign him from Guangzhou Evergrande. In the 2017/18 season, Paulinho made 34 official appearances for Barcelona, scoring 10 goals and providing 6 assists. He was part of the squad that won the La Liga and Copa del Rey titles, and at the end of the season, the club agreed to let him return to the Chinese Super League for a fee close to the one they paid to sign him.
Now retired, Paulinho looks back on that exchange with Messi as the starting point of his Camp Nou career. A question in a friendly match, a phone call a few weeks later, and a spell at one of Europe’s biggest clubs have become one of the clearest memories of his professional career as time goes by.
