REPORTED Stoke City target Paulinho is expected to seal a move to Al Arabi ... although it is believed he was never on the Potters' hit list.
Mark Hughes has been linked with dozens of potential new front men during the summer but stories suggesting Paulinho was a wanted man, like Andriy Yarmlenko, appear to have been figments of over-active imaginations.
In this case it was Livorno president Aldo Spinelli who set the tongues wagging, claiming he had received offers from Verona, West Ham, Stoke and Southampton, as well as two clubs in Dubai.
If it was a case of driving up interest following his own club's relegation, it might have worked as the striker is close to completing a £5.5m move to Dan Petrescu's side in Doha.
Sky Sports Italia claim Paulinho had been in talks with Hellas Verona but has looked elsewhere, and securing a three-year deal worth about £1.5m a year, plus a new house. Not bad for a plan B.
