Why Paulinho Is the Tottenham Player with Most to Prove in Final Weeks of Season

Tottenham have enjoyed a successful first season under new manager Mauricio Pochettino.

Spurs look likely to miss out on the Holy Grail of Champions League qualification, but that does not undo the months of progress under the Argentinian. 

The team itself was in a bad way after the sacking of two managers in less than a year, so Pochettino's first job was to right the ship. 

Two wins from three to start the season and a well-deserved draw away to Arsenal demonstrated that the squad was growing under his leadership. 

Spurs are now hard to beat and have avoided the serious embarrassments that plagued them under both Andre Villas-Boas and Tim Sherwood. 

While the team as a whole has undoubtedly improved, Pochettino's most remarkable achievement has been his effect on individual players. 

Harry Kane's meteoric rise to England squad member and the Premier League's leading goalscorer cannot be fully attributed to Pochettino, but there are other examples of his handiwork. 

The development in Danny Rose's game is the most notable. His progress from last season to this is astonishing. The fact that he has kept Ben Davies at bay is a genuine surprise. Twice named in England squads, Rose is getting fair recognition for his growth as a player. 

Ryan Mason was a virtual unknown beyond die-hard Spurs fans before this season. Now he too is in Roy Hodgson's squad. Luckless with injury in his youth, Mason has always been talented, but only now is he getting the chance to show it. 

All across the team, players have improved, and the squad has become more cohesive. 

There are, of course, players that have been left by the wayside as Spurs move forward. Emmanuel Adebayor, Younes Kaboul and Vlad Chiriches are chief among those players who have essentially been deemed surplus to requirements. 

Moussa Dembele was seemingly part of that group too, but he has fought his way back into the first-team picture and is now a useful member of the squad once more. 

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Paulinho, Tottenham's former record transfer signing, has the chance to make a similar transition. 

With eight games remaining in this season, Paulinho can prove himself to be a contributor for Pochettino's team. 

When he joined the club, Spurs fans were excited to see whether Paulinho could deliver on the hype. Touted as the "Brazilian Frank Lampard," the Corinthians star was supposed to possess all the attributes necessary to thrive in England. 

Watching his highlights and his performances for Brazil, Paulinho seemed to be the brilliant midfielder who had been described. 

His early months for Spurs were solid but lacked headline moments. Like Lampard, Paulinho always seemed to be in the right place at the right time to score, but unlike the former Chelsea man, he had an unfortunate habit of missing simple chances. 

Frustration took a small toll on his play, but injuries were the main problem for the remainder of his first season. Once he was fully fit again, he returned to the team, struggling to make an impact. 

At the end of a trying first season in England, Paulinho had made 33 starts and a further four appearances from the substitutes' bench. He had scored nine goals and assisted two more for a solid, if not brilliant, collection of statistics. 

This season, though, Paulinho has started only 11 games and just one in the Premier League. The Brazilian has endured this second year in England with injuries and difficulties with form, lacking an obvious role in Pochettino's settled side.

Rumours of an imminent exit make sense, as did the suggestions that he would leave last January. However, Paulinho remains at the club and still has a chance to make something of his Spurs career. 

This article examines the transfer rumours around Paulinho and explains why Spurs should not give up on him yet. 

His most recent appearance, replacing Andros Townsend with 30 minutes to play against Leicester, was encouraging. 

He was aggressive but mindful of his role within the defensive structure and laid on the fourth goal. Paulinho is perhaps the only member of the current squad whose future remains largely undetermined. 

Players like Kaboul and Adebayor are certainties to be sold, while Dembele and many of the younger players at the club know they are unlikely to leave the club this summer. 

Paulinho could go either way.

The club has rejected significant bids from several clubs and could presumably attract a fee somewhere in the region of the £17 million that Spurs paid for him. Giving up the project of developing Paulinho would be a disappointment but far from a disaster. Any player signed from outside Europe comes with an inherent risk. 

However, he has the talent to be a valuable player in the Premier League. 

Paulinho has power, athleticism and a strong sense of timing. He lacks the skill one would perhaps expect of a 32-times capped Brazilian midfielder, but he has already proven that he is not out of place in a Premier League midfield.

If he can prove, as he hinted at against Leicester, that he has understood Pochettino's playing system, he will be given more chances in the remaining fixtures this season. 

Dembele's renaissance should be the blueprint for Paulinho. The Belgian was in awful form until late last year, but he clawed his way back into contention. Paulinho can follow the same path. 

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Tottenham's midfield is choked with options. Nabil Bentaleb, Etienne Capoue, Mason, Dembele, Tom Carroll, Dele Alli—even Lewis Holtby—are all essentially in competition with Paulinho for a role next season. 

Paulinho has an advantage over many of the players on that list in that he is at the club, not out on loan elsewhere. He can impress Pochettino every day and earn his place in the squad while others are helpless. 

There is an additional wrinkle. 

Paulinho was among Brazil's most-used players from his 2011 debut through the last year's World Cup. 

He has not been selected in the most recent squads under new coach Dunga and he will not be able to force his way back in. With the Copa America looming, Paulinho needs to show that he has not lost his ability to influence a match at the highest level. 

Tottenham's stakes are not particularly high, given the significant advantage that their Champions League rivals have in terms of their points tally. However, that can change quickly, and Spurs could find themselves in must-win scenarios once again. 

Paulinho's international and club careers are on the line in the coming months. He is the Tottenham player with everything to prove.