While now he earns 200 million, what Cristiano Ronaldo did when he had no money

Cristiano Ronaldo has become not only the highest paid footballer in the world, but he is the athlete who receives the most money per year thanks to his arrival at Al-Nassr. Since his arrival in Saudi Arabia, the Portuguese has considerably increased his income both on and off the field, earning 200 million euros a year alone from his contract with the Arab team. However, this life of luxury is not a habit for Cristiano.

In his first years as a footballer, Ronaldo had to make ends meet like everyone else and he barely had anything to eat. This is how Fabio Paim, who was his locker room teammate during his first steps at Sporting Lisboa, told it: “When we played for Sporting we lived in the academy, we lived in the stadium. At night we went to a fast food house to pick up the hamburgers that no one wanted anymore and that were not good to sell”, he confessed.

And then he explained: “We were there every night for the burgers. Sporting knew it. It's not like today. “They allowed us to leave”. The former Sporting player spoke even more about the great relationship he formed with Cristiano, when they were absolutely nobody in the world of football: “I spent holidays with him. One was in Brazil, it was my first time in Brazil, before the 2004 Euro Cup. It was Cristiano's first Euro Cup with the Portugal national team and before that we went on vacation”.

Fabio Paim and how he sees Cristiano today

“I remember Ronaldo as a great worker, really committed and someone who wanted to be the best. He's always been like that, he got upset when he lost. That effort has brought him to where he is now. Even today he doesn't need to play, but he wants to be the best. He has gained everything he could, there is nothing left. But it is the result of that effort when we were children”, said Paim, leaving some beautiful words for the Portuguese star.