Story By: Juan Mayes, Sub Editor: Alex Cope, Agency: Golder’s News And Sport
Former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Paulinho has said he has been told to leave his house “as little as possible” as he finds himself in China during the deadly coronavirus outbreak.
Former Barcelona midfielder Paulinho, 31, made the comments during an interview with Spanish newspaper ‘Mundo Deportivo’.
The Brazilian midfielder is in the city of Guangzhou located in the Guangdong province in southern China as he plays for Guangzhou Evergrande.
Paulinho said: “I thought about leaving China because of the coronavirus, especially for my family, but we have been assured that we can remain calm. We are OK.”
However, despite the reassuring comments, he said: “They told us to try and leave our homes as little as possible” as he and his family are 1,000 kilometres from the city of Wuhan where the coronavirus was discovered.
When speaking about his upcoming matches, Paulinho said: “We will not play the league but we will participate in the Asian Champions League so we train every day.
“We are going to play in Korea, Japan and Malaysia.”
Local media report the Chinese Super League has been put off due to the virus which was initially set to start on 22nd February.
Paulinho ended the interview by speaking about his former club Barcelona seemingly up to date on their news saying: “I know Suarez is injured and that Setien is the new manager.
“Barca will surely have a great season because they have an awesome squad.”
Paulinho played at Tottenham between 2013 to 2015 before he was sold to Guangzhou Evergrande for a reported 12.6 million GBP.
He had a brief stint at Barcelona in the 2017/2018 season however returned to the Chinese club on-loan at the end of the season before signing for them a second time.
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