In addition to Ronaldo, another super talent was growing from the Lisbon football club Sporting at the same time, but huge mountains of money and fast cars took the teenage star to the side paths.
Sporting’s Academy has produced great stars like Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Figo and Nani. PDO
Sporting Lisbon will be remembered for years to come, how the club found the young and shy Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo and allowed this one to step into the bright lights to amaze everyone. The career of Ronaldo, voted the fifth best in the world, has been dazzling, but how would things have turned out if a slightly younger teammate had met the same expectations?
When Cristiano Ronaldo was at Manchester United in 2003, he tipped reporters to pay attention to another teenage player at Sporting Fabio Paimi.
– If you think I’m good, just wait for Fabio Paimi, Ronaldo said.
Of course, Fabio Paimi’s name is not as well known as Ronaldo’s. Paimi’s career may have started even better than Ronaldo’s, but the men’s paths quickly diverged in different directions. Paim never made his big breakthrough to the top of football.
The squiggly-footed winger Paim was one of Sporting’s most potential up-and-coming top players, whose game performances were watched by, among others, United, Barcelona and Real Madrid. Even at the national team level, there was plenty of competition, as the French national team tried to convert a youngster of French background to play for Les Bleus.
Sporting did not take risks that Paim would leave the team too soon and offered him a weekly salary of around 18,000 euros. Paim was only 16 years old at the time.
Money was one of the biggest reasons why Paim never lived up to the expectations of his environment. In the young man’s heart, there was no longer enough love for football, when one after the other more beautiful cars appeared in the garage to compete for attention.
– I loved cars and spent a lot of money on them. I spent my money recklessly on the cars I wanted. I bought a Ferrari, a Lamborghini, a Porsche, a Maserati and even a Punto, Paim says in his 2017 interview with Globoesporte.
He didn’t feel he needed a supervisor to control the spending of money. In retrospect, such a thing would have been necessary.
– When you have a lot of money, you need a support network behind you. I would do things differently if I could.
The huge fortune strengthened Paim’s self-esteem for a moment. However, the senseless waste began to be regretted afterwards, when the focus had been lost on the profession that brings bread to the table.
– I thought I had many more gifts than others. Like anyone, I wanted to feel better, wear nice clothes, drive nice cars, and act without humility. But that’s what people work for, to be satisfied.
– No one criticized me when things were going well. But when I stopped playing, I got pointing fingers. I just wanted to be with my cars, Paim recalls.
From the Premier League to the leagues of the dwarf countries
Paim’s career crisis began to swell at the age of 20. Fabio was no longer associated with mega promises like Ronaldo, but Chelsea offered him one more straw and loaned the winger to the big London club, which had played in the Champions League final in the spring.
The gates to the Premier League remained closed. The change of scenery to cold England only accelerated the Portuguese’s problems with money and leisure. Motivation dropped to zero, and the extremely competitive team couldn’t afford that.
– When I was at Chelsea, I stopped training and working. I started drinking. I had money and I started doing things I didn’t do before. I had every opportunity to do what I wanted.
Paim spent a season at Chelsea, but did not play a single match for the national team. The return to Sporting was also rough. The contract was terminated, and the debut was not released from the Portuguese league either.
That started Paimi’s itinerant life from series to series. Paim’s story has many of the same features as the American story Freddy in Adu, which was also compared to the big names of the sport, which still ended up breaking through the leagues of the dwarf countries of football. Adu is also remembered in Finland, because he played for Kuopio Palloseura and KuFu-98 from Kolmo.
After leaving Lisbon, Paim represented 12 different clubs in seven different countries without significant achievements as a player. Experiences came from, for example, football leagues in Angola, Qatar, Malta and Lithuania. During his time in Luxembourg, he was kicked out of the second division team for unprofessional conduct.
Three years ago, as Paim’s football career drew its last breaths, he was arrested on suspicion of drug smuggling. The charges were eventually dropped.
Paim’s story still does not have a sad ending. He has turned a new page in his life and returned to Lisbon to work at Sporting’s junior academy. There, he can guide the next generation of footballers and tell about his harsh experiences as a top prospect who followed Ronaldo.
It can be said that Cristiano Ronaldo even exceeded the high expectations that were created for the Portuguese in his time. PDO