A former teammate of Cristiano Ronaldo has spoken out about his new career as a porn star.
The ex-Portuguese winger, 36, started his career alongside Ronaldo in Sporting Lisbon’s youth academy and even enjoyed a brief loan spell at Chelsea in 2008, but has only played for the club’s reserves.
He has now moved into a completely different industry after revealing he started working as a porn star earlier this month.
Fabio Paim has been making headlines in his home country since his shocking announcement and is happy to be back in the spotlight.
‘Here in Portugal [the news about the pornographic film] is a fad, everyone is going crazy,” Paim said in an interview with Globo Esporte via File.
Fabio Paimhas started his new career as a porn star after previously being a football player
He had a short loan spell at Chelsea in 2008, but only played for the club’s reserves
‘Do you know why? Because people don’t take it the wrong way, that’s just how I am. On a podcast I said my dream was to become a pornographic actor. I got a lot of offers. I was on the news, I was on the front pages of newspapers… And I had done nothing.
‘Cause everyone was talking about it, [I thought] let’s make a movie. And I did. I’ll tell you one thing. It’s good to have sex and still get paid for it.’
Things could have turned out very differently for Paim as he was once a promising footballer after rising through the ranks with Ronaldo at Sporting.
He is three years younger than Ronaldo but claims he was widely recognized as a bigger talent than the global superstar when they were younger.
However, he believes his mentality has failed him as he failed to fulfill his potential before hanging up his boots in 2018 without receiving a single international cap, while Ronaldo went on to become one of the best players of all time.
“He grew up with me, we spent a long time together,” Paim explained as he reflected on his relationship with Ronaldo.
‘I was Sporting’s number one at the time. Cristiano started being Cristiano when he went to Manchester. Even then, no one knew he would become what he is today.
‘Today Cristiano is the king, Paim is nobody. And people say, “Oh, he’s a liar, he wasn’t any better.” But the truth is that I was better than him and everyone knows it. I had more talent. But talent is nothing, talent is just a little bit. If you don’t have the rest, you’re nobody.’
Paim came through Sporting Lisbon’s academy with Cristiano Ronaldo and claims he was more talented than the Portuguese superstar
Paim was even more candid when he appeared on a recent podcast, when he called on Ronaldo to give him one of his five Ballon d’Ors.
‘Cristiano Ronaldo should offer me one of his Ballon d’Ors. I went to Sporting when I was seven years old, I grew up there,” Paim said on a PT Clipes podcast.
‘Those were glorious years in which I won everything I could. I didn’t reach where I could have reached, but I marked a generation. If people don’t forget, it’s because I marked them.
‘When I was happy, I said I thought Cristiano Ronaldo could offer me a Ballon d’Or. But it was done with humility. If I had half of Cristiano’s head, there wouldn’t be him and Messi.
‘It would be me with him, Messi and Messi, and maybe he wouldn’t have won the Ballon d’Ors that he has now. Maybe one of them was mine.”
Ronaldo hit back with a savage response, writing on Instagram: ‘Wtf??? Who is this man?’
There may be some doubt about how good Paim was as a player, but he received very positive feedback after his first porn film.
Diana Melancia (pictured, left, in the Instagram post below), one of two women who appeared with Paim in a sex tape that went on sale overnight for £65 on Telegram, was quoted by The sun as said: ‘We thought he would get nervous and it wouldn’t work out – but Fabio turned out to be a lion.
Paim claimed Ronaldo should give him one of his Ballon d’Ors on a recent podcast
Ronaldo has won five Ballon d’Ors in his brilliant football career
Ronaldo fired back at Paim after his outrageous claim, suggesting he didn’t even know him
‘He was good at football and he’s good at porn. He will be a success. I hope this film is the first of many with Paim.”
Paim was accused of rape in 2012 and again in 2015, but neither case led to a trial.
He was subsequently arrested in 2019 on suspicion of drug trafficking. Paim was jailed after a court appearance but was ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing.