Paulinho admits he has received an offer from Barcelona
"I haven't been set a date to give my reply. Barça and my club need to reach an agreement", Paulinho said. Scolari insists he is not for sale.
Paulinho has confirmed that Barcelona are keen on signing him, telling Globoesporte: "They made contact with my agent and there was an offer on the table. Right now I am in a very happy moment of my life and in my career so it is difficult for me to decide. I would have to weigh up a lot of things before making a decision - first of all I have to consider what my wife would say - we live well in China. We like life here - we like the place, the people, on the sporting side we are battling to become champions of Asia. It makes me feel happy that a great club like Barcelona is interested in me - that's priceless. I haven't been given a date to give my reply; I speak to my agent every day. But Barça and my club would need to sit down and talk about it and reach some kind of arrangement".
The Brazilian midfielder is a first choice at Guangzhou Evergrande and in Brazil's national team. Paulinho has plenty of experience playing in Europe after stints with Vilnius (2006-07), Lódz (2007/08) and Tottenham (2013/2014 and 2014/2015)
Scolari says Paulinho "is not moving from here"
Guangzhou Evergrande coach Luiz Felipe Scolari is adamant that his star player will not be prised away and reminded that the midfielder's buy-out clause is 40 million euros.
"It's not so easy to let a player like him leave in Chinese football because signing a replacement of his calibre would mean we would need to make a huge investment bringing someone else in - and that's not so easy to do considering the caps that have been imposed in our market", Scolari said.
