Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino says that there is little chance of the club allowing midfielder Paulinho to leave the club during the January transfer window. The Brazilian was signed after a lot of promise and he cost the London club a reported £ 16 million. After an impressive first season, he has been pushed to the sidelines. He has not been featuring regularly for Tottenham for almost a year. This is threatening to cost him his place in the Brazilian national team. As a result, it is widely speculated that Tottenham may look towards allowing the player to leave on a temporary basis with his former club Corinthians interested in him.

A move back to Brazil will help the player gets regular football under his belt. This may help him rediscover his form that made Tottenham convinced that they were making a right purchase at £ 16 million. Paulinho has been at Tottenham since 2013, but after making just six appearances this season, he is believed to be on the verge of a move. Pochettino, however, has ruled out any possibility of the midfielder rejoining the Brazilian outfit. He says that Paulinho will have a crucial role to play in the team as the season progresses and injuries take the toll on the current regulars.

“No, no Tottenham player, including Paulinho, will be loaned to Brazil. There is no chance. Paulinho arrived late, one of the last players to join the squad after the World Cup. There isn’t any problem. He is training and doing well, it’s just a technical decision,” said the Tottenham manager. Paulinho was one of the players involved with the Brazilian national team at the disastrous World Cup 2014 campaign. He was selected by the manager Luiz Felipe Scolari despite being aware that he was not a regular for Tottenham.

Former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola says that he is confident that new manager Luis Enrique will be able to emulate his achievements at the Camp Nou. Guardiola remains as one of the most successful Barcelona managers, and indeed across the world, in the last five years. The former Barcelona captain lifted several titles including two Champions League trophies with the Catalan club before joining Bayern Munich last summer. Since his departure, though, Barcelona have not done well in major competitions.

After winning the league title in Tito Vilanova’s first season at the club, Barcelona went on to lose the stranglehold on the title under Gerardo Martino last season. The club also lost its famed Champions League record where they have qualified for the semifinals consecutively for more than five years. The club quickly acted and sacked Martino from his role. They have brought in Enrique in a move that looks very similar to the way they appointed Guardiola in 2008. Enrique is also a former Barcelona captain, but he has suffered in poor spells at the likes of Roma.

Guardiola, however, says that Enrique is one of the top managers in world football and he will be able to prove that at Barcelona. The Catalan club have backed him heavily in the transfer window by spending more than £ 100 million.

“Of course he can match me at Barcelona, I think very highly of him. He will do a better job than I did. It is important for Barcelona to have its own identity again, a philosophy that we all recognise. I think we will see just that under Luis Enrique,” said Guardiola. Enrique was managing the Barcelona B team when Guardiola was in charge of the first-team. Even then, it was widely speculated that Enrique would one day replace Guardiola as the first team boss.