Leeds United winger Raphinha admits he almost gave the game away as a teen.
He wrote for the Players' Tribune: "You can only take so many punches before you go down. When I was 18, I had been rejected by the academies more times than I could bother to count. Internacional, Grêmio, everywhere it was the same: a one-week trial and then an excuse.
“He's too small. He's too frail. He's got no power.
"Always the same, man. Always the same," he recalled.
"Just before I turned 19, I was training with the U-20 team at Avaí. They were based in Florianópolis, a six-hour drive north of Porto Alegre.
"I had never spent so much time away from home trying to get a contract. But then I got injured, and when I was fit again, I couldn't get into the team. I didn't even make the matchday squad. They told me to train on my own.
"My dad said he was fine with it. My mum, too.
“But, my mum added … 'If you give up on your dream, you'll have to get a normal job.'
"I was like, ' Hmmmmmm'…. "
"The thing was, I had wanted to be a footballer since I was seven, so I never finished school. Which meant that I would have to find a job in a supermarket or a barber shop or something.
"I knew what that life was about, because my mum had changed jobs so many times. Her CV must have been the length of a book. Hairdresser, manicurist, seller of perfumes and clothes, receptionist, waiter, etc., etc., etc. Finally, she saved enough money to get a degree, and now she was doing what she loved, which was to work with children who had learning difficulties."
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