Former Chelsea loan signing Fabio Paim arrested on drug trafficking charges
AN ex-Chelsea loan signing who Cristiano Ronaldo said was better than him is being held for alleged drugs trafficking.
Fabio Paim, 31, who joined Chelsea in 2008, was nicked with a 43-year-old woman suspect after being recorded on phone taps.
Police seized 12g of cocaine, weighing scales, 900 euros and a BMW during house searches after his detention in Alcoitao, Portugal. Paim, who was identified in Portuguese newspapers, was remanded to Caxias Prison near Lisbon.
Ronaldo, 34, called ex-Sporting Lisbon youth team winger Paim Portugal’s best young player of his generation. The Portuguese legend and former Man United star said after joining the Red Devils: “If you think I’m good, just wait until you see Fabio Paim.”
Paim won 42 caps for Portugal’s youth team but none for the senior side. He spent four months at Chelsea, only playing in the reserves before going home.
He admitted after his loan spell at Chelsea, a deal engineered by his former agent Jorge Mendes, that he had been left frustrated at his lack of first-team football.
He said in a July 2017 interview, in which he blamed part of his fall from grace on the lack of support he received when he earned a fortune as an up-and-coming player: “I often trained with the first team but I didn’t play.
“I wanted to play. I felt I could do more. Jorge Mendes took me to Chelsea. I was getting good money and he had a player at the club and that was good for everyone.
“If it had been today I would have had more patience. But at the time, the more free time I had, the more stupid things I did.”
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