By Chris Donald
New Tottenham signing Paulinho believes his previous experiences in Europe have made him a stronger charater.
The Brazilian completed his £17 million move to Spurs this week from Corinthians and feels his first taste of Europe set him on the right track, reports Sky Sports.
Seven years ago, aged just 17, he travelled from his homeland to sign for Lithuanian club FC Vilnius and after two seasons there, he moved on to Polish outfit LKS Lodz.
However, Paulinho was subjected to incidents of racist abuse in eastern Europe and having been repeatedly fielded at right-back, he returned to Brazil after just one season in the Ekstraklasa.
His career then began to shine again, particularly since he signed for Corinthians in 2010 where his impressive performances earned him a Seleção call up a year later.
Paulinho has since gone on to star for club and country at the FIFA Club World Cup and Confederations Cup tournaments, resulting in his transfer to White Hart Lane.
“After all I had been through, all those bad moments, bad things, I carried on. I knew about my potential,” he explained.
“I knew what I could do. Never mind where you are, you have to fight until the end. It’s important you never give up.
“I went back to Brazil and started from scratch. I had the self-confidence to take that step back and then managed to take two steps forward,” he added to The Sun.
