Corinthians forwards agreement and hopes to announce Paulinho for 2022

When the Corinthians squad performs for the 2022 season, in January, one of the main news should be the presence of Paulinho. The player and his manager, Giuliano Bertolucci, have an agreement lined up with the club’s board of directors, but the contract has not yet been signed.

Paulinho, 33, terminated the agreement he had with Al-Ahly, from Saudi Arabia, in September this year and is free on the market. He played only four games for the team. The name of the possible backup was suggested to coach Sylvinho last month and he agreed. The athlete spent a few days training at the Joaquim Grava Training Center, in November, before going on vacation.

When that happened, the agreement with Corinthians was already underway.

The negotiation, stuck at the beginning, advanced from the moment the athlete accepted that the Brazilian team would not be able to match the salaries received by him in Europe or China. From the first conversation, president Duilio Monteiro Alves made it clear that Corinthians was interested in hiring, but Paulinho would have to adapt to the financial reality of national football. The decision, then, was up to the player.

Corinthians hopes to have greater financial flexibility in 2022 and wants to negotiate names that weigh on the payroll. The main one is the attacking midfielder Luan, who receives around R$ 800 thousand per month and has been little used by Sylvinho.

Paulinho worked for the Parque São Jorge club between 2010 and 2013. He won the 2011 Brazilian Nationals, the 2012 Libertadores and the 2012 Worlds, and the 2013 Paulista, before being traded with Tottenham Hotspur (ING). He scored 34 goals in 167 games.

It is not the first time that Corinthians has tried to repatriate him. In 2018, when he was underused at Barcelona (ESP), there was interest, but no agreement. At the time, Paulinho believed he still had space in Europe. Instead, he returned to Guangzhou Evergrande (CHI), where he had already worked between 2015 and 2017.

The defensive midfielder should be the team’s first reinforcement for the 2022 Copa Libertadores, but not the only one. Another priority is the acquisition of a center forward. Diego Costa, from Atlético-MG, was offered, but it is considered expensive. Their maturities exceed R$1 million per month. Anderson Talisca, who is at Al-Nassr, in Saudi Arabia, is of interest.

With 57 points and one round before the end of the Brazilian Championship, Corinthians is already classified for the next edition of the main South American competition. If it defeats Juventude this Thursday (9), in Caxias do Sul, it guarantees fourth place and goes straight to the group stage, without having to go through the qualifiers.

If they tie, they can also keep the position, as long as Fortaleza doesn’t defeat Bahia, in Ceará.