FABIO PAIM is the ultimate story of a football career ruined by money.
The child prodigy left his four younger siblings and mother aged eight to live at the Sporting academy.
He was so good that the club paid him £4,400 per week when he was just 13, plus a staggering £130,000 annual bonus.
That weekly wage increased through his teenage years to £5,000, £6,000 and £8,000 before he joined Chelsea on loan aged 20 earning £10,000 per week as well as that mammoth bumper pay packet.
Many believed Paim would become one of if not the best players to ever grace a football field, including the man himself and his childhood friend Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo famously said upon joining Manchester United in 2003: "If you think I'm good, wait until you see Fabio Paim."
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But these days, Paim’s tale is one of regrets and mistakes and the sad narrative of someone who failed to realise his potential.
Asked if he could have won Ballons d’Or, Champions League and even the World Cup for Portugal, Paim told SunSport: “Yes. I believe so. Cristiano did and I could too.
“Until today, there has been no one like me that young.
“At that time I was better than Cristiano.
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“I didn't work the same as them [Ronaldo and Lionel Messi].
“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 it.
“I 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 €19,000 plus a €150,000 bonus per year. It was always going up. It was too fast.
“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.”
Paim, who actually dreamed of being a pop star, embraced his fame at an early age and dived headfirst into an indulgent lifestyle of partying, women and cars.
DRIVEN TO DESTRUCTION
He bought his first motor, a high-end convertible Mercedes, before obtaining a driving licence and owned a whole fleet of supercars… and a Fiat Punto.
But now as drives his BMW around the Algarve, he recognises his spending was reckless because he wasn’t taught how to budget his finances wisely.
Paim added: “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. But I was also robbed and people took advantage of me several times. People in the bank, the guy that sold me the cars.
“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.”
Despite his immense potential, Paim never broke into the Sporting first team and joined a host of other Portuguese players at Chelsea with a season-long loan in 2008-09.
The lack of Premier League 2 in those days, though, meant he did not play regular matches under reserve team managers Brendan Rodgers or Paul Clement.
After another two loans in the 2009-10 season, Paim was released by Sporting in 2010, embarking on a career that took him around the world simply chasing more money to fuel his expensive, lavish lifestyle.
But he got a major wake-up call when, in 2019, he was arrested and put in prison for a year on suspicion of drug trafficking.
Paim was acquitted when the case collapsed then had a brief stint in Poland’s third tier before realising he must use his experiences to help others.
The ex-winger, therefore, now travels around Portugal visiting schools, universities and football clubs giving talks and presentations.
The message is close to home, too, with his 11-year-old son Jaden now in the Sporting academy.
Parents don't want their kids to end up like me
He added: “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.
“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!”
But Paim, despite his rollercoaster journey, lacks sympathy for those who still repeat his mistakes.
Sat in his barber’s chair getting his biweekly trim, he concluded: “Now it doesn't get me so upset.
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“Those mistakes are only going to happen if they want to because they have loads of information.
“In my time it wasn't that way. So it's like a choice to them. If that happens, it's their fault.”
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