#4 Paulinho
Even the most die-hard Barcelona fan could not have dreamed of the impact Paulinho has had at Barca since joining the Catalans for €40 million from China, a move that was highly criticized by the Camp Nou faithful who were reeling from the loss of Neymar Jr and the club’s failure to land Marco Verratti and Philippe Coutinho.
Paulinho though has answered his critics in style and has established himself as a first-team regular under Ernesto Valverde. Paulinho is a key component of the 4-4-2 formation and has developed an almost telepathic link up with Lionel Messi.
A high-scoring box-to-box midfielder, Paulinho has netted 6 league goals this season which is surprisingly more than the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Antoine Griezmann, Alexis Sanchez and Karim Benzema.