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#9 Paulinho - €40m
Fans of Tottenham Hotspur were utterly gobsmacked in the summer of 2017 when it was announced that Barcelona had paid a massive €40m to bring Brazilian midfielder Paulinho to the Nou Camp from Chinese side Guangzhou Evergrande. After all, Spurs fans remembered him largely as a flop who failed to live up to his £17m price tag and was sold to Guangzhou after just 2 seasons in the Premier League.
Quite why Barca chose to sign the Brazilian was anyone’s guess; he’d performed well for Guangzhou over his 3 years there, but judging a player based on their form in a far lower-level league like the Chinese Super League was always going to be a major risk.
As it was, Paulinho proved to be a decent signing for the Catalan giants. The Brazilian appeared in 49 games across all competitions including 34 league games, scored 9 goals and received praise for his performances as Barca ended up winning both La Liga and the Copa del Rey.
Strangely enough though, the Brazilian ended up moving back to Guangzhou on loan in the summer of 2018, and then made the move permanent – for a fee of €42m – a couple of weeks ago, meaning he only completed one season at the Nou Camp.
