Tottenham Hotspur trying to fend of Real Madrid interest in Paulinho

The Daily Star is reporting that Tottenham Hotspur are attempting to sign Brazilian midfielder Paulinho to a contract extension following interest from Real Madrid. Paulinho joined Spurs this summer from Corinthians for £17 million and signed a contract through 2017. However, thanks to a strong start to his Spurs career, Paulinho now appears to be drawing interest from some bigger clubs.

The report believes that the contract extension would make Paulinho a Spurs player until 2018 and give him a raise on his approximately £70,000 per week wages. The club, allegedly, would like to get this deal locked up before the January transfer window in order to avoid losing yet another player to Madrid.

I'm going to come right out and call B.S. on this one. First of all, it's not like central midfield is a position of need for Real Madrid. They already have on former Spurs midfielder there in Luka Modric. Even if players like Sami Khedira depart, they still have Xavi Alonso, Casemiro, Isco, and Asier Illarramendi. Second, I don't think anyone can objectively say that Paulinho's start has been so stellar as to warrant this sort of speculation. He hasn't even been the best player in Spurs' midfield (that would be Mousa Dembele).

I seriously doubt that Spurs will be doing any business with Real Madrid anytime soon and even if they were I doubt it's going to be for Paulinho.