Barcelona are in talks with Chinese Super League club Guangzhou Evergrande midfielder Paulinho, according to the reports.
The 28-year old has admitted that he was offered a lucrative deal to move back to Europe but has a massive has a £35m release clause in his contract. The Catalan club are close to completing the negotiations and are willing to offer a four year deal as per Goal.com.
However, Evergrande manager manager Luiz Felipe Scolari who signed him from Tottenham in 2015 insists that he is not keen to let the player leave despite Barca confident of sealing a deal.
‘His release clause is €40m (£35m) and none of the Chinese clubs will let their key players go because it would be difficult and expensive to find a replacement due to the new rules,’ he told reporters.
But the deal for the Brazilian midfielder Paulinho could be a problematic one for the club as he was in news for all the wrong reasons in the past.
Last November, the 28-year old landed in a controversy when he agreed to promote Philippines-based gambling company Letou and more problems followed when he had unwittingly photographed alongside a Japanese porn star as part of promotions.
Neither the player nor his representatives were aware of the situation when they signed for the ad as he is deceived in many ways by the company. Despite there is a clause in contract for non disclosure of images in public, the Philippines firm released them which led to lot of criticism in the mainland of China.
Both pornography and gambling are considered illegal in China which has really cornered the midfielder despite doing it unintentionally. When the scandal came out, Evergrande had launched an investigation on the player. He was proved not guilty as he proved his innocence and had severed his ties with Letou.
The club has accepted the player’s unintentional involvement in the events but has warned him to inform the club before participating in any commercials in future. The midfielder only renewed his contract at the club in January, 2017 but has drawn interest from Barca this summer as they continue to explore options to bolster their midfield.