CRISTIANO RONALDO once described Fabio Paim as a better player than him – now the Portuguese flop is eyeing a career in porn.
Paim, 36, was a team-mate of Ronaldo’s at the Sporting Lisbon academy two decades ago and featured more than 40 times for Portugal’s age group sides.
He was such a promising talent he was paid £4,400 per week when he was just 13, plus a staggering £130,000 annual bonus.
Paim even had a four-month loan spell at Chelsea in 2008, but only played for their reserves during his short time at Stamford Bridge.
Ultimately, money, fame and a partying lifestyle culminated in him failing to live up to his extraordinary potential.
In 2003, Ronaldo said: “If you think I’m good, wait until you see Fabio Paim.”
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Yet 16 years later, after a disastrous playing career, he was put in prison for a year on drug trafficking charges.
Paim watched Ronaldo train from a window in his jail cell, a brutal illustration of their differing fortunes.
Now released, he has claimed he is seeking a career in porn as a single man.
Paim was interviewed on Tiago Paiva’s YouTube channel where women in bikinis surrounded the topless ex-footballer.
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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.”
But these days, Paim’s tale is one of regrets and mistakes and the sad narrative of someone who failed to realise his potential.
Read Paim’s full story here.
One of them included porn star Diana Melancia – who wears a mask over her eyes.
As part of the video Paim received a massage from the women as he soaked in the sunshine.
And he was not shy in admitting he wants to pursue a path in the adult entertainment industry.
He said: “I would like to act in a porn film.
“I’m serious, it would make my dreams come true. I don’t have a girlfriend, I’m single.”
Ronaldo and Paim had a social media exchange last year after the failed footballer joked the Real Madrid legend should give him one of his five Ballons d’Or.
Ronaldo responded to the story by posting: “Wtf. 👀👀👀 who is this guy?”
Paim’s comments came in an exclusive interview with SunSport in the Algarve – where he now resides.
He said: “I was really special. I must be humble but this is the truth.
“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.
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“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 Ballons d’Or!”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk