No one ever comes back from a transfer to the Chinese Super League, at least that's the conventional wisdom.
Well Paulinho is back - and he's at Barcelona, outscoring Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema who he will face on Saturday in the Clasico.
'Naahh,' is his incredulous response to the question: 'What if?' - What if someone had told him when he left Tottenham for China in 2015 that his next move would be to the Nou Camp.
'If someone had said that, before the next World Cup, I would be playing for Barcelona I would have said: "Never".