The Brazilian midfielder recalls the surprising moment Messi hinted at his move to Barça
Paulinho Becerra spent just one season at FC Barcelona, but he certainly left an impression. Signed in the summer of 2017 from Chinese side Guangzhou Evergrande, he scored ten goals and added six assists in 34 appearances. The style he brought – a more direct, physical approach – wasn’t exactly what fans expected from Barça, yet he still lifted La Liga and the Copa del Rey before heading back to China.
Grabbing a guy from the Chinese League was and still is unusual. But even more curiously, it’s long been rumored that one of the hints that the transfer would go through was dropped in the middle of a friendly match, by Lionel Messi himself, no less.
The midfielder has confirmed that those whispers were true.
“Messi came up to me. We were playing a friendly against Argentina in Australia. The referee had just called a foul, and I was next to the ball with Willian. Suddenly, Leo comes over, looks me straight in the eyes, and says: ‘So… are we going to Barcelona or not?’ Just like that. No explanation, nothing. He turned around and walked away. I didn’t even have time to think. I just said: ‘If you want to take me, I’m going!’”
Paulinho was playing in China at the time, and a move to Barça seemed impossible. “I thought Messi was joking, like he was trying to mess with me during the match. But it was only a friendly, so I started to doubt it.”
The moment was so surreal that he called his agent right after the game. “Boss, for God’s sake, I’m losing my mind! Tell me if this is real or not!”
He even considered messaging Neymar for confirmation. “I was so desperate that I thought about writing to Neymar to see if he knew anything. A month later, my agent called me and said, ‘The deal is done. You have to come to Barcelona to sign the papers.’”
After his season in Catalonia, Paulinho returned to China before finishing his career at Corinthians and in Saudi Arabia, retiring at 36. Now he’s the sporting director at Mirassol in Brazil, slowly building a reputation off the field.
Category: General Sports
