Paulinho on Mauricio Pochettino failing to get the best out of him at Tottenham Hotspur

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The former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder has revived his career with an unlikely transfer to Barcelona.

With Mousa Dembele’s frail body beginning to catch up with him, it is clear that Tottenham Hotspur need to be in the market for a box-to-box midfielder in the near future.

But have Spurs already let the perfect replacement slip through their fingers?

Paulinho may not have looked a world beater during his two seasons in North London, but the Brazilian is now a key contributor to the Barcelona team which is running away with La Liga.

The 29-year-old can look a little clumsy and does not possess the grace that Dembele does, but he is a powerful runner and a genuine goal threat, with six in 15 league appearances for Barca.

Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino did not see that potential during Paulinho’s time in England, using him largely in cup competitions and often playing him out of position.

Paulinho has no bitter feelings towards the Argentine about how his time at Tottenham ended – a transfer to Chinese club Guangzhou Evergrande in 2015 – but insists he never got the best out of him.

“My first game [under Pochettino] is in my position but after that I played in every position apart from my own,” Paulinho recalled during an interview with The Guardian. “He had a different system, and if you’re not in your position in a football as competitive as England it’s difficult.

“I was playing on the left wing: the míster put me there and I had to play there, because I wanted to play. I had no problem with Pochettino. I told him: ‘This position is not mine but if you want I can play there.’ But in the long term you’re not going to be at your best and over the last six months I wasn’t playing regularly.”

Pochettino preferred Nabil Bentaleb and Ryan Mason in central midfield during Paulinho’s one season under his management, but neither fully vindicated that faith and have also since moved on from Tottenham.

Given the opportunity, Paulinho would have had the fitness and pressing game to suit Pochettino’s setup, but he is probably pretty happy with the way things worked out as he prepares for Saturday’s El Clasico.