Paulinho has officially left Barcelona to re-join Guangzhou Evergrande on loan with a reported €50m option to buy.
The transfer was confirmed in a statement on Barca’s official website, while Sport claims Guangzhou must activate their purchase option by December 31.
The midfielder moved to Camp Nou in a €40m deal last summer and scored nine goals in 49 games for the Catalans, winning a Liga and Copa double.
However, only 27 of those were starts, while he netted just once more between January and the end of the season.
Paulinho, who turns 30 at the end of this month, appeared in all of Brazil’s five games at the World Cup, although they went out to Belgium in the quarter-finals.
