Paulinho (7-15-2000, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) has taken four seasons to score more than five goals in the Bundesliga. He did it last weekend in Bayer Leverkusen’s victory against Wolfsburg (0-2). A saving double from the Brazilian that allows his team to continue in Champions positions. Two goals in just nine minutes of play. The few that Paulinho has gotten used to playing since he made the leap to German football in 2018, when he had just turned 18.
Paulinho’s experience in Europe is being very different from that of his generation partner Vinicius. The Brazilian footballer has spent four seasons at Bayer Leverkusen going completely unnoticed by the German fans. An investment for the future made by the Germans that is being a disaster until this season, or rather until last weekend. Paulinho was one of the jewels of Brazilian football. He stood out very young at Vasco de Gama because of his ability to generate danger in attack. He distilled magic. An incipient scorer in futsal (along with Reinier, with whom he is very close), he made the leap to professional football very quickly. A promising future awaited him. Leverkusen didn’t think about it and went ahead of big European clubs to sign the pearl from Rio de Janeiro the same day he turned 18. 18.5 million euros plus some bonus ended up in the coffers of the Admiral. At that time, Real Madrid opted for Vinicius, from Flamengo, although Paulinho’s name was also on the Madrid agenda that summer. Then the whites would take his friend Reinier.
During these campaigns, Paulinho had gotten used to warming up the bench or playing the minutes of the garbage. He had not shown any of his good work in Brazil. Only he had scored 4 goals in 64 games for Bayer. A very poor background for a footballer who came to the Bundesliga as a future star project. Cunha’s generation partner, Vinicius (with whom he conquered the South American U-17 in 2017) his jump to Europe was being hell, which was confirmed when he tore the cruciate ligament in one of his knees in the summer of 2020. An untimely injury that confirmed Paulinho’s disastrous experience in German football. He was able to recover in time to attend the Tokyo Olympics, although with a secondary role. With the canarinha He won the long-awaited gold medal in Japan and was very excited for the 2021-2022 season. A new player.
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A misfortune has opened the door
Leverkusen opted this summer for the Hispanic-Swiss Gerard Seoane on the bench and Paulinho opened up a range of new possibilities. But the campaign was not going as Paulinho thought, although he had more minutes of play in the Teutonic team, he barely had a significant role.
But there is no harm in the world and the unfortunate injury of his teammate Florian Wirtz has allowed him to be a real alternative. against Wolfsburg, two saviors goals, the first of them with an elegant drive, were the prize for the disappointments of the past. Despite the difficult adaptation since 2018, Paulinho never lowered his arms and now picks up what is sown. With a contract until 2023, he always liked playing in the Spanish LaLiga…