During his time at Barcelona, Lionel Messi was determined to help the club succeed. In his more than 10 years in the first team, he made sure to attract a number of stars to keep a competitive team year after year. And it looks like a Brazilian footballer was part of just one of his attempts to strengthen the blaugrana squad.
In a column published in The Players Tribune, Paulinho recalled the day the Argentine invited him to join Barça during a derby between Brazil and Argentina. The South American rivals faced each other on June 9, 2017, in Melbourne (a 1-0 victory for Albiceleste), and the midfielder received Leo’s invitation in the middle of the match.
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Paulinho remembers Messi’s invitation during an Argentina-Brazil
“Messi came walking towards me. We were playing a friendly match against Argentina in Australia. The referee had just called a foul for us, and I was on the ball with Willian. Suddenly, Leo approaches me, looks me straight in the eyes and says: “So… are we going to Barcelona or not?” That was it. No explanation, nothing. He turned his back and left. I didn’t even have time to think. I just said: “If you want to take me, I’ll go!,” Paulinho said.
At that time, the São Paulo native had already spent almost two years at Guangzhou Evergrande in China, a club he joined after two seasons at Tottenham. In August, just a few months after the friendly, he completed a €40m move to Barcelona.
🚨🗣️Paulinho on Messi’s role in his signing with FC Barcelona :
“Messi came walking towards me. We were playing a friendly match against Argentina in Australia. The referee had just scored a foul for us, and I was on the ball with Willian.
Suddenly, Leo approaches me, looks me… pic.twitter.com/VJksZ3jkRZ
— PSG Chief (@psg_chief) March 15, 2024
“At that time, I was playing in the Chinese League for Guangzhou Evergrande, and no one believed that Barcelona was interested in me. I thought Messi was joking, as if he wanted to mess with my head to get me out of the game. But we were playing a friendly, so I started to doubt…
“After the match, I called my agent and said, ‘Boss, for God’s sake, I’m going crazy! Tell me if this is real or not!’ I was so desperate that I thought about sending a message to Neymar asking him if he knew anything. A month later, my agent called me and said, ‘The deal is done. You must come to Barcelona to sign the papers,'” he added.
Paulinho did not have much success in Spain, where he spent only one season before returning on loan to his previous club, which made the deal permanent in January 2019. In July 2021, the midfielder joined Saudi Al Ahli, but terminated his contract a few months later. In January 2022, Paulinho returned to his native country to join Corinthians, with whom he’s under contract until June.
