RICHARLISON: NEYMAR’S ALWAYS BEEN MY HAIRO

But Everton’s Samba star wants to show he has moves to be a cut above

THERE was a moment during his first meal with the Brazil squad that Richarlison knew he had been truly accepted.

He was sitting next Neymar (right), a player he has idolised since he was a kid dreaming of wearing the Samba shirt, and could not help but blurt out a confession.

The Everton forward said: “Neymar is an idol of mine since my childhood. I’ve always tried to mirror myself in the to way he plays and also I’ve tried imitating some of his haircuts! “I had the yellow mohican (right) when I was 13, 14. I didn’t quite pull it off though because I didn’t really have the right hair products. It would stay up for five minutes and then just flop down. “And I remembered during lunch so I told him... and this made the whole squad fall about laughing, they thought it was hilarious and great fun for all involved.” Richarlison, 21, is truly rare among top-class footballers that he is so open when talking about his life and the struggles he has had to arrive where he has – a £40million summer buy for Everton and now a Brazil international.

Even his mum Vera Lucia told him to get a proper job, and few thought the shy kid from Nova Venecia in coastal Espirito Santo in Brazil could ever make it as a footballer.

He added: “Even some of my friends said I wouldn’t have a future in football, as did some of my family.

“My mum would tell me that I needed to get a real job, and it led to some tension and frustration between us.

“It was something I dreamed of doing and I fought until the very end.” The moment when he knew for sure the fight was worth it – and so did his mum – was 10 days ago in the US, when he made his first start for Brazil and marked the occasion with two goals. Neymar was so impressed that he raced over to join Richarlison in doing the ‘danca do pombo’, the Everton forward’s signature pigeon dance which has taken his country by storm. He said: “I copied his haircut, but it is my dance – Neymar is the one copying me now!

“I am so happy he wants to copy me and I hope he can do the dance more.”