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<\/p>\nCristiano Ronaldo is often seen as the perfect footballing specimen physically and mentally, but what happens if you don\u2019t have the mentality to match?<\/p>\n
You end up like Fabio Paim, a former wonderkid who was admired by Ronaldo and tipped for greatness \u2013 perhaps more than CR7. But his career fell apart before it had even begun after being given too much too young.<\/p>\n
Paim, like Ronaldo, joined Sporting Lisbon\u2019s academy aged eight, leaving his mother and younger siblings behind. Such was his potential in the game, he found himself on \u00a36,500-per-week when he was just 13, with a huge \u00a3130,000 annual bonus on top.<\/p>\n
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Throughout his teenage years, his wages climbed to \u00a35,000, \u00a36,000 and \u00a38,000 before spiking at \u00a310,000 a week while on loan at Chelsea as a 20-year-old. Paim was tipped for the top and he was given incomprehensible wages as a teenager to match. And it eventually broke him. <\/p>\n
Paim, now 35, told The Sun that he was \u201cbetter than Cristiano\u201d but didn\u2019t work the same as the great man. He said: \u201cI 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 it. <\/p>\n
Have you ever heard of Fabio Paim before? Let us know in the comments section.<\/i> <\/b><\/p>\n
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\u201cI was born with talent. As I was earning lots of money, I got the illusion I didn't need the effort. When I was 13, my monthly wage was \u20ac19,000 plus a \u20ac150,000 bonus per year. It was always going up. It was too fast."<\/p>\n
Paim revealed how he would naively blow his earnings on cars and partying. He added: \u201cI 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.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Upon joining United in 2003, Ronaldo famously said: "If you think I'm good, wait until you see Fabio Paim." Yet despite being held in such high esteem, Paim never broke into the Sporting first team and spent four months on loan at Chelsea in the 2008\/09 season but didn\u2019t come close to the first-team.<\/p>\n
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The sorry tale of Paim instead saw him embark on a journeyman\u2019s career, chasing the cash to keep up his lavish lifestyle, and eventually took him to jail as opposed to the Bernabeu, unlike his superstar compatriot. Paim was arrested in 2019 and put in prison for a year on suspicion of drug trafficking. He was later acquitted when the case collapsed.<\/p>\n
The former wonderkid attempted to continue his playing career in Poland\u2019s third-tier before realising he must use his experiences to help others. Paim now travels around schools, universities and football clubs in Portugal giving talks and presentations.<\/p>\n
Paim\u2019s 11-year-old son Jaden is currently treading his old man\u2019s path in the Sporting academy, but he said there\u2019s no pressure on his son to hit the heights that he was once destined to reach. Saying he'd be happy if he turned out to be half the player he was.<\/p>\n