China was perfect for me, says Paulinho

LONDON, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Brazil and Barcelona midfielder Paulinho said that he was satisfied with his life in China before moving from Guangzhou Evergrande to Barcelona last summer.

In an interview with English tabloid Daily Mail, the 29-year-old said, "I can't say anything bad about the place (China).

"It was perfect for me and my family. We had everything - restaurants of every type of food in the world, people on hand to help me, and a very relaxed media who would only talk to the Chinese players because of the language barrier."

Paulinho, who had an unsuccessful spell at Tottenham Hotspur where he scored six goals in 45 matches from 2013 to 2015, was sold to Guangzhou for 10 million pounds.

"When I went from Tottenham to China a lot of people said that was it, my career was over. I had a couple of other offers at the time but they were both loans and I would have had to go back at the end. I just wanted to play.

"I arrived in June 2015 and of course the playing level did not compare with Europe but then Gervinho, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Jackson Martinez, Oscar and the Hulk arrived and the league started to grow a bit. It's a lot different now."

He said that the "motivation is the same" in the Chinese Super League as the English Premier League.

"Wherever you are you have to do your best," he said.

Paulihno won six trophies with Guangzhou, which helped him return to the national team and Barcelona then were keen on bringing him back to Europe.

"My representative called me and said: 'We are talking to Barcelona'. My attitude was: 'When you have something concrete then we'll sit down and decide if it is right for me. I'm here in China and I don't need anything crazy in my career right now'."

"This is Barcelona we are talking about," Paulihno still could not believe himself. "This is not just any club."

Then Messi told him Barcelona were serious with the deal in a friendly on June 9 this year and Paulihno knew it was true.

"When I first left England everyone was talking about how Paulinho's career was over. And now I'm back in the Brazil team and with Barcelona. It's been a rollercoaster of a career," he said. Endtiem