When Paulinho left Tottenham for China, some said his footballing career was over but, in fact, it was anything but. So what happened next?His debut season in North London had actually been pretty solid after joining Corinthians for £17 million. He scored eight goals in 37 matches from central midfield, with everything about him seemingly tailor-made for the Premier League.But, come the summer, things changed. Paulinho played as Germany beat Brazil 7-1 in that World Cup semi-final. The sobering experience was tough to recover from, even more so when a full season is staring you in the face.That season was a complicated one. Tottenham Hotspur appointed Mauricio Pochettino, and Paulinho went on to start just three games. “I thought the moment had come to leave. Where? I didn’t know. But I wanted to leave,” he said. “The coach wasn’t trusting in me so there’s no reason to stay.”Photo by PAUL ELLIS / AFP via Getty ImagesWhat happened to Paulinho after leaving Tottenham Hotspur?In 2015, Paulinho left Tottenham and moved to Guangzhou Evergrande in China to play under Luiz Felipe Scolari, his former international boss. He went, too, well aware that it could write him off for good.“It’s not the same,” he told The Guardian. “The level didn’t compare with Spain, Italy, England, Germany; it’s totally different.” But it was a trophy-laden spell, with six titles over the next two seasons, including the AFC Champions League in 2015.That led them into the Club World Cup, where Paulinho headed them into the semi-finals deep in stoppage time as they took on Club América. That led to a meeting with one of Europe’s elite: Barcelona. From on the fringes, he was now back on one of football’s biggest stages. But that was as good as it got. They were beaten 3-0. But it would not be the last time he would cross paths with Lionel Messi.By all accounts, though, Paulinho was very settled in China. So much so, he extended his contract through to 2020 in January 2017. He was playing under a coach that believed in him, while he’d also found his way back into the Brazil set-up and was a regular once more. So, what reason did he have to go?“Are you coming to Barcelona?”It was one of football’s heavyweight duels: Brazil versus Argentina. Paulinho was setting himself for a free-kick. Then, Lionel Messi asked him a question. “Are you coming to Barcelona?”Guangzhou were stubborn in negotiations, leading to Barcelona to pay Paulinho’s €40 million release clause in full. With Neymar having left the Spanish giants, signing a 29-year-old who had failed in the Premier League raised some eyebrows but he brought a profile the club did not have.“He has important technical and physical qualities,” explained coach at the time, Ernesto Valverde. “He arrives in the area from deep; we needed someone who breaks through lines.”As soon as Paulinho started playing, the doubters were silenced. He proved a key player, racking up 49 appearances and scoring nine goals as Barcelona won both La Liga and the Copa del Rey.He was praised throughout the season and went to the World with Brazil as they made it to the quarter-finals, before… returning to China.Paulinho became a goal machine after China transferLess than 48 hours after Brazil crashed out of the World Cup, Guangzhou announced Paulinho was returning on loan with an option to buy.By now, Scolari had left, with Fabio Cannavaro at the helm and under him, Paulinho put together some of his best-ever seasons. Over the next three years, he scored 47 goals in 87 matches, including a haul of 22 in 42 games in 2019, with Guangzhou winning the Chinese Super League once more.But the coronavirus pandemic would bring arguably one of the best chapters of his career to an end. With the virus heavily disrupting the 2020 season, Paulinho found himself unable to actually return to China for the 2021 campaign. With travel restrictions showing no signs of lifting, the club and player were forced to part ways. It was undoubtedly a shame, given Guangzhou had essentially helped him rebuild his career. He had that time in Barcelona. He re-established himself as a Brazil regular. And he discovered his prowess as a goalscorer.But the chapter had ended. Though Paulinho’s story was not yet done.The final chapters of Paulinho’s playing career, long after TottenhamWhereas once China had been tarred with a reputation as being a retirement home for some of Europe’s biggest players, that baton was passed on to Saudi Arabia in the 2020s.Paulinho joined them, moving to Al-Ahli in 2021. He scored twice in four games, then ended his contract by mutual agreement. The club statement said it was down to discussions with club management “which was reflected in his performance on the field during the past rounds, expressing his inability to provide the desired addition to the team”.That departure cleared the path for an emotional homecoming in January 2022 to Corinthians, the club he joined Spurs from, where he had established himself as a rising star. But, as often with sport, it was not quite the happy ending with two ACL reconstruction surgeries within a year hampering his progress. He still went on to make 51 appearances and score six goals over the next three seasons, before leaving the club in 2024. “In my last game with Corinthians, with 45 thousand Corinthianos, I felt that it would be my last game,” he said in a video, a few months later, as he announced his retirement. “There would be no better way to say goodbye.”Inside Paulinho’s post-footballing careerIn that video, Paulinho revealed he’d been laying the foundations for his post-footballing career, studying sports management. His first serious knee injury saw him start that studying, with the second leading to him getting serious about it. He completed a leadership and football management course, followed by a 10-day immersion in Madrid through La Liga and the FPF.He also visited different clubs to study their structures and sought to learn from the likes of Thiago Scuro, Edu Gaspar and Pedro Martins. The goal was to represent Brazil at another World Cup and compete once again in the Champions League in that new capacity. And he didn’t have to wait long, either, until he got the chance to start proving himself.At the end of 2024, he joined Mirassol as Technical Coordinator and was soon promoted to Director of Football. His initial role had seen him work closely with the coaching staff and players, observing training and giving advice, but that promotion really helped him start to understand the whole of the club.“I realised that, in order to perform my role as an executive, which was what I wanted, I had to be off the field, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to see,” he said. “The technical coordinator needed to be outside, to have vision.”And with him on board, Mirrasol finished an impressive fourth having been newly promoted to Brazil’s top flight, earning a place in the 2026 Copa Libertadores. He’d been central to rebuilding the squad and appointing Rafael Guanaes as head coach.In a way, Paulinho’s footballing story is just beginningPaulinho is showing no signs of slowing down in retirement. He’s placed an even greater emphasis on Mirrasol’s academy, where he spends significant time watching youngsters as he looks to build that pathway into the first-team.He’s also spent time studying with FIFA, completing the Players Executive Programme, as he continues to shape his management style and establish himself as a very impressive director of football.His ambition now is simple. He wants to become one of the best football executives in the world.The post What happened to Paulinho after Tottenham? China star, La Liga champion and a sporting director on the rise appeared first on Spurs Web.