Everton: Beto on ‘haters’ and social media criticism

Beto played a secondary role to first-choice Dominic Calvert-Lewin for most of the campaign.

Although Beto featured in 37 games in all competitions, he was mainly used as an impact substitute, with 27 of those appearances coming from the bench.

“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 is 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.”

The 6ft 4in striker started his career at Portuguese regional side Uniao Tires and worked part-time at a fast-food restuarant to make ends meet before joining Olimpico Montijo and moving on to Primeira Liga side Portimonense in 2019.

He added: “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 on my notes and I read it.”