Most of footballers need lots of praises and approval in order to boost their confidence and subsequently rise the levels of their game.However, Everton’s striker Beto is of a completely different ilk. Talking to BBC Sport, he revealed he needs to “have haters” and “people criticising” him so he could prove them they are wrong. The 26-year-old joined the club from Udinese last year but netted only five goals for the Toffees in the campaign that saw Dominic Calvert-Lewin being Sean Dyche’s first choice in the attack.”Not everybody in this life is going to love you and not everybody in this life is going to hate you. In this sports life, for me, it’s OK.”Sometimes I like to read my comments when I played badly or missed chances. They will say, ‘Beto is [expletive] with missing chances’. But I like it because I say, ‘OK, I will make this guy shut his mouth.”🗣️”It was really tough. I don’t think I adjusted well.Now I know the Premier League and what I can do to get better, to create more chances and help the team score more goals. I just need to be more open physically to do what I want to do” – Beto on moving to England from Italy pic.twitter.com/3dpezxeOTO— 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗲 𝗕𝗹𝘂𝗲𝘀 (@EvertonNewsFeed) July 23, 2024 He admits he takes it personally, too.”When I’m in training the next week or the next day, I remember it and I say, ‘No, this guy is not going to say this about me any more’ and I keep going.”The explanation is quite simple when it comes to this Portuguese striker…”I need to have competition and I need to have people criticising me,” he said. “I need to have haters. I need these kind of things in my life.”Even when I was young, it was always like this. When it comes to football, I take it really seriously.”When it is just you playing, there is no competition. Sometimes you can chill, you can miss training, and if you miss a chance, you know you will play the next game.”Competition is different. You need to always be alert.”##NAJAVA_MECA_8228998##And even that’s not all when it comes to Beto’s a bit strange approach:”I have notes. I have screenshots from Facebook, YouTube – when they say something like I’m not good enough or something like that.”I say OK, I take a screenshot, I put it in my notes and I read it.”
