“I was better than Cristiano Ronaldo” – former Portugal wonderkid Fábio Paim reflects on the career that never was | OneFootball

The early 2000s was a particularly golden period for Sporting’s illustrious academy. As graduate Luís Figo – the world’s most expensive footballer - collected his Ballon d’Or while playing for Real Madrid, Alvalade was set to introduce several similarly talented wingers from the conveyor belt.

Simão Sabrosa, Ricardo Quaresma, Nani and Cristiano Ronaldo emerged over the next few years. Just behind them was a talent many believe was the best of them all: Fábio Paim. However, the Estoril native is today found regretting a career that failed to live up to his billing as a future superstar of the game.

“If you think I’m good, wait until you see Fábio Paim,” was the famous declaration by Cristiano Ronaldo shortly after making his switch from Lisbon to Manchester United in 2003. Ronaldo is three years older than Paim, but the pair became friends during their teenage days together at Sporting, where Paim had played since age eight.

“I was really special. I must be humble, but this is the truth,” Paim told British newspaper The Sun from his home in the Algarve earlier this week, in what was a frank and sometimes emotional interview.

“Unfortunately, back then there was not Instagram or Facebook, nothing was recorded like nowadays, but I strongly and honestly believe that until today there was no other like me with the same quality I had.

“Cristiano, for all his effort and hard work, went to a level he deserves. But when I was playing, if I had the same effort and commitment, I would be better than him.

“If I speak about technique, I was better. I was a small Ronaldinho. But as we can see, it's not the technique that leads us to wherever. But yes, at that time I was better than Cristiano. I believe he should give me one of his Ballon d’Ors!”

Too much, too soon

Paim’s talent was well acknowledged within the Sporting set-up, leading to an astonishing salary of close to €5,000 per week when he was just 13 years of age as well as an annual bonus of around €150,000. Reminiscing on his lavish early lifestyle, Paim concedes the money proved hugely detrimental to his mindset before he had even begun prove himself at senior level.

“Unfortunately for me, I was born with talent but as I was earning lots of money, I got the illusion I didn't need the effort. It is impossible for a person like me to be a millionaire.

“I regret some of my choices. Now I'm at a different age so can see the picture differently. The talent was there but my mind wasn't. My head was on women and partying, everywhere else apart from football.

“I played some matches, but my body was not in its best shape and didn’t respond to what people were demanding from me because if I could, I would have been at Barcelona or Real Madrid.”

Ultimately, Paim failed to feature in a single league match for Sporting, instead being loaned out to Olivais Moscavide, Trofense, Paços Ferreira, Rio Ave, Real Massamá within Portugal, as well as English Premier League club Chelsea in 2008. By the time of his arrival in England, where he also did not make a single league appearance, the 20-year-old was earning over €10,000 per week as well as his six-figure bonus.

“It was too fast,” he concedes. “I always looked after my family because I had the biggest income at home by 12. My mother was a domestic worker in other people's houses.

“I could spend the money on my stuff and even when I was doing wrong, I was never called to attention. No one said anything because I was so good. Sporting wanted me to play so they let me do whatever I wanted as long as I kept playing at that level.

“To be honest, I regret some of the choices I've made. I believe I should have been taught better because I was earning a lot of money and didn't know how to deal with that.

“I wanted everything at the same time. I shouldn't have rushed things. I should have been more humble and paid attention to what people were telling me.

“I liked a lot of things, things I couldn't have as a child. I bought all kinds of cars. Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Porsches, Audis because it was my dream as a child and I had no one telling me it wasn't right. The worst investment you can make is cars. But my head couldn't think that way and no one taught me better.

“I started drinking when I was 18 or 19 then started going to parties. It became a routine, more partying, more and more things. I got to know a different lifestyle. As a footballer, I performed the same. I was scoring, playing well in games but after that, I was partying and making bad decisions.”

Watching Portugal train from prison

Paim says he had mentally retired by the age of 22, but spent subsequent years moving to Angola, Qatar, Malta, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Brazil as his career dwindled away. However, the worst was yet to come: in 2019 he was arrested by Portuguese authorities on possession of an undetermined amount of illegal drugs.

At the age of 30, Paim spent a year in prison in Caxias before eventually being acquitted on the basis of inadmissible evidence relating to a wiretap. In a cruel twist of fate, the jail cell in which Paim spent time behind bars overlooked the training ground Portugal were using to prepare for their 2020 European Championship qualifiers.

“The prison I was in is next to the field where the Seleção were so I could watch them training every day for the Euro 2020 qualifiers. Did I think I should be there? No, if I was in that position, it was for a reason and my fault,” Paim said, becoming teary during the interview.

“Prison was really hard and difficult for me and my family. But it was good for me.

“I learned what comes easy is not good for you. And I couldn’t have that lifestyle anymore, so I need to work and have dignity. My life is calmer now. I'm sure I will make some more mistakes because I am human.

“Prison was not a place for a boy like me. I don't want anyone to feel sorry for me. It was my choice; it was my mistake. But I needed the comfort and support that only family can give you.

“Family is the most important thing. I had to be honest with my children. I just asked them to be there for me, to visit me. My mother was always my big support and she still is.

“What hurts me so much is how much I have hurt them with my errors because they didn't deserve that. I did too much to them. I apologise for being emotional - I can't help it.”

"I'm happier with less"

Now retired, where his home overlooks Vilamoura Marina, Paim is often recognised and stopped by locals. His footballing career may have proved forgettable, but the 35-year-old insists he is happier now and intends to use his experience to help others, as he spends time giving talks to young kids about the potential dangers of losing focus. One of which is his own son, Jadon, who is in Sporting’s academy.

“When I had the fame, the money, the parties, I thought that was happiness,” he says.

“But I didn't know what happiness meant. I had the money, but I didn't know what it was to eat good food and travel. Nowadays, I know what it is to be happy and I am happier with less.

“I feel it’s mandatory for me to give back to the kids and teach them what I didn't have anyone to teach me because I can’t give the gift or talent I was born with to anyone. I can't teach that.

“But if I can teach what I have learnt from my experience and what I see has changed in football because of me and because of my story that will be enough for me.

“Although I don't have money now, I use myself as an example so they can avoid the mistakes I made in getting overwhelmed by money and fame. The parents don't want their kids to end up like me.

“Not everybody is going to be like Cristiano but if they choose the right path, they have better chances to become football players.

“Until today, there has been no one like me that young. At that time, I was better than Cristiano.

“Could I have won a Ballon d’Or? Yes I think so, Cristiano did and I could too. I didn't work the same as [Ronaldo and Lionel Messi] because I started earning lots of money and had fame way earlier. That led me to a different path.

“That's why I'm not among them and I don't deserve to be.

“My son has a dream like all other kids have to be a big player but most important for me without any pressure is that he’s happy.

“If he can be half the player I was, the family will be more than happy!”