I GREW UP IN WILD WORLD OF GUNS AND DRUGS BUT ALL I EVER WANTED TO DO WAS PLAY FOOTBALL Richarlison’s battle on Brazil’s tough streets
EVERTON
The illegal drugs trade and gun crime, that saw many of his mates either killed or imprisoned, bypassed the football-mad youngster who was desperate to one day earn enough money to relocate his hard-up family.
Now, as he enjoys his first senior international call-up for the Samba stars, the former Watford player reflects on his poverty stricken boyhood.
Richarlison said: “A lot of my friends are in jail or dead, as they got caught up in the world of drugs and guns.
“I was in the middle of it all. Where I lived was a drug-dealing spot. I never got involved in any of it.”
But the potential to earn decent money by turning to crime would have raced through a young Richarlison’s mind as he tried desperately to make his way up the football ladder.
At the age of 10 he joined a local football academy, but added: “I had no trainers to play so I went barefoot. Everyone else had trainers.
“I also remember running six miles to training one day with ripped trainers. The sock kept coming out of the shoe so I’d have to stop and tuck it in.”
There was also the time he had to wait for more than 10 hours in a bus station in the cold and rain on the way home, after being rejected by Figueirense, a small club some 1,100 miles from Nova Venecia.
“My coach told me to never give up, as I was still very young. I continued working towards my dream,” he recalled.
At last a one-way bus ticket to Belo Horizonte (“I went without money to get back”) saw him impress Brazilian second-tier club America Mineiro. After being taken on, the young forward helped his side win promotion. “It was a wonderful year because it was the year I achieved my goal of buying a house for my dad,” he added.
A move to top-flight Fluminense soon followed, together with a call-up to the Brazil Under-20s squad, and in September 2016 he scored in a 1-1 draw against England at St George’s Park.
He said: “It was my first time away from Brazil. I was quite startled as I’d never travelled that far on a plane.”
Within another 12 months he had signed for Watford, and was playing under the man who sanctioned his record-breaking transfer to Merseyside, Marco Silva.
“I came to England to make a name for myself in the best league in the world,” he told Everton’s matchday programme.
“It was difficult when the cold came. I wasn’t used to temperatures of -5C and the snow was a bit tough. I found a Brazilian supermarket with the rice, beans and meat I like, which was helpful.”
And in May there was plenty of rice, beans and meat being distributed after Richarlison helped to organise a charity football game in his home city which attracted a crowd of 3,000.
He explained: “We also collected three tons of food which we distributed in the deprived areas of my town, to bring some joy to the local kids. These are my roots and where I came to play football. It’s the least I could do for my people.”
A three-game suspension after his red card last Saturday against Bournemouth means that Richarlison won’t be playing for Everton again until the trip to Arsenal in two weeks’ time.
Clearly, compared to what he has been through, that’s no more than a blip in the rags to riches story of a brilliant young talent.