Germany's Julian Brandt may have departed to Borussia Dortmund after half a decade at the BayArena - but in Brazilian, Paulinho, Bayer Leverkusen may well have in their ranks the perfect replacement in the making.

It was with a heavy heart that Brandt and Leverkusen went their separate ways this summer, the 23-year-old bidding farewell to the club that handed the Bremen native his Bundesliga debut against Schalke in January 2014 and proudly oversaw his development into a fully fledged Germany international.

One-hundred-and-sixty-five Bundesliga appearances, 34 league goals and a further 40 assists later, Brandt was making an instant impact in Black and Yellow as he rounded off his debut with the fifth goal in his new team’s 5-1 dismissal of Augsburg on Matchday 1 of 2019/20.

Brandt has picked up where he left off at new club Borussia Dortmund. - 2019 Getty Images

Clearly, Bayer and coach Peter Bosz had a major task at hand in replacing the owner of 25 caps for Germany and Die Werkself moved quickly to bring in both Kerem Demirbay and Nadiem Amiri from Hoffenheim, as well as Moussa Diaby from Paris Saint-Germain.

All three are very different players, but each offer attributes befitting the role mastered by Brandt, such is his rare talent and outstanding versatility in midfield.

A like-for-like replacement is tricky to unearth, but not impossible and 19-year-old Paulinho may just be the man to fill Brandt’s shoes long-term.

Considering just the 15 league appearances made - all as a substitute - in his first season, this idea may raise a few eyebrows but Bosz’s eagle eye has long spotted the similarities.

Both are wingers by trade - Brandt traditionally at home on the left and Paulinho on the right - but it was with enormous success that Bosz reimagined Brandt as a central midfielder last year and the Dutchman has suggested Paulinho may be perfect for similar vocational retraining.

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"Paulinho is an interesting player for me," the 55-year-old former Dortmund coach told kicker in the lead-up to the 2019/20 Bundesliga season. "He's a good player and I'm always trying to find out how to fit players into our system in the best possible way.

"You saw that last year with Julian Brandt who was used in a more central position. And that's what you see now with Paulinho.

"You can see that he can also play well in a central midfield role, especially offensively."

Bosz was referencing his young schemer’s pre-season form as an attacking midfielder, from where Paulinho scored goals against Belgian side KAS Eupen and Dutch outfit Heracles Almelo.

Having instigated a turnaround in Brandt that saw the former Wolfsburg man convert one goal and three assists in the 2018/19 Hinrunde as a winger into a Rückrunde consisting of six goals and eight provisions from a central role, Bosz clearly knows what he’s talking about.

Paulinho (r.) scored his first goal for Leverkusen in the 5-1 win over Larnaca in the 2018/19 UEFA Europa League. - AFP/Getty Images

Little wonder, then, that the former Vasco de Gama teenager is buying into the Bosz master plan for his development, having witnessed first-hand Brandt’s remarkable remodelling.

"When I train a lot and get involved in this new position, I manage to find my place in the team," said Paulinho, who described his first year in Germany as one of "adaptation".

"I have all the qualities to play in this position."

Paulinho’s transformation will, of course, not occur overnight but player, coach and club are clearly in this for the long-run and time is on the side of all three.

Brandt himself had to bide his time with Leverkusen, frequently moving wing to wing in his maiden season as an 18-year-old. His first six appearances in 2014 all came in cameo substitute performances, and it was not until the 2015/16 season that Brandt truly established himself as a first-team regular.

By the end of his final year at Leverkusen, Brandt was the side’s beating heart alongside Kai Havertz, his versatility, vision, passing range and eye for goal so evidently potent from the centre of the pitch.

Watch: Julian Brandt's flicks, tricks, skills and goals

And Paulinho shares many traits with Brandt. He has bullish strength on the ball, positional flexibility, is assured in possession, a strong, quick dribbler and someone that loves arriving late in the opposition’s penalty area.

If he can now improve defensively - Bosz has already put this in practice with run-outs for Paulinho at wing-back in pre-season - then there is no reason why the young pretender from Rio cannot thrive in a central role.

And if he can have anywhere near the same impact as Brandt along this stretch of the river Rhine, Paulinho may one day be mentioned in the same breath as countrymen Ze Roberto, Emerson and Lucio in lauded Brazilian-themed conversations among the Bayer faithful.

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