Tottenham in box seat as they face four-way battle for Brazilian

Paulinho is a player in high demand this summer with Corinthians reportedly already receiving formal offers from Tottenham, Inter Milan, Roma and Monaco of late.

However, comments from the Brazilian midfielder’s agent suggest that it is the Premier League club that are out in front in this particular race at present.

It has been stated that Paulinho would prefer to play in a European competition when leaving Brazil and Tottenham are the only one of the four interested parties that could offer this scenario, after qualifying for the Europa League.

Tottenham may have to pay as much as £17m to sign Paulinho, but he would be a worthy addition to a midfield that could arguably do with strengthening.

With Sandro injured in the latter part of last season, Andre Villas-Boas was forced to call upon either Scott Parker or Tom Huddlestone to sit alongside Mousa Dembele.

Parker’s mode of defensive midfield work is different to the screening game employed by Sandro, while his sometimes slackness in tracking runners can leave Spurs with a gap too large between defence and midfield.

Huddlestone is a better fit than Parker from a positional standpoint and has a range of passing to get Spurs moving forward, although he does lack mobility, which can be taken advantage of if he is one of only two central midfielders.

Paulinho can play in a reserved holding role, but would perhaps be even better in a midfield three where he could start alongside a holding player, with the licence to break forward quickly.

He would certainly give Villas-Boas an extra option alongside Sandro, Dembele, Lewis Holtby or even Gareth Bale for one of the central midfield slots.

Tottenham are 5/4 to finish in the top four this season and a player of Paulinho’s ability would be a boost to their chances of achieving this desired result.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.