Paulinho in the running to win Chinese Super League POTY

Paulinho's Guangzhou Evergrande were unable to win the Chinese Super League, finishing second, but the Barcelona loanee is in line to be named the league's best player.

The Brazilian, despite only playing 19 games after arriving half way through the season, scored 13 goals as Guangzhou missed out on the title to Shangai SIPG, coached by Fabio Cannavaro.

Those performances have earned Paulinho a place among the three candidates to win the league's Player of the Year award, along with Wu Lei (Shanghai SIPG FC), the league's top scorer with 27 and the competition's top scorer with 102, and another Brzailian, Beijing Guoan's Renato Augusto.

Paulinho returned to Guangzhou Evergrande on loan in June with an obligatory option to buy for 50 million euros. His return came one year after he was sold to Barça for 40 million euros.

It won't be until Nov. 21 when the winner of the prize is revealed. Meanwhile, Paulinho is currently with the Brazil squad preparing for games against Uruguay and Cameroon.