‘My match bonus was 10 times my salary. I gave the money to my dad. Those bonuses were more than he earned in a whole month’ World's most expensive player Denilson tells extraordinary rags-to-riches tale

Nowadays, £21.5 million buys you a bog standard Premier League defender but back in 1998, it was enough to make Denilson the most expensive footballer of all-time.

The Brazilian joined LaLiga side Real Betis in a bumper transfer which put the Andalusian club on the map.

He would spend seven years at Estadio Benito Villamarin before his career wound down, taking him to France, the United States, Saudi Arabia and back to Brazil.

Denilson: 'Every Sao Paulo win meant more financial relief for my family'

Denilson's upbringing was unlike the start to life most players in Western Europe are afforded. Growing up in an impoverished Sao Paulo neighbourhood, he would go on to make his first-team debut for the historic Brazilian club at age 17.

But, his journey to becoming the world's most expensive player was beset with challenges, both competitively and financially.

"The turning point came when, at just 16, I jumped straight into the first team," he tells FourFourTwo. "It was 1994, my last year as a youth player, and instead of finishing that stage, I skipped the final youth year, as well as two or three years of juniors. In effect, I was fast-tracked about four years of development.

"Looking back, it all happened at the right time. I wasn’t even a starter in the youth teams when I was promoted. The lads born in 1976 had priority and the coach didn’t rate me. At one point, he even wanted to release me, but the directors insisted I stayed.

"Was it challenging? Absolutely. But also wonderful. I was walking into a squad that had just won everything – the state championship, the Brasileirao, two Copa Libertadores and even two Intercontinental Cups against Johan Cruyff’s Barcelona and Milan’s Fabio Capello. There was a winning identity and I had to earn my place fast.

"My salary was around R$150 [reals], but the match bonuses – the famous bicho – ranged between 1,000 and 1,500 reals. That made a massive difference."

In today's money, Denilson's 1994 Sao Paulo salary equates to approximately £200, meaning a match bonus worth seven-to-ten times that was especially lucrative.

"I gave the money straight to my dad. To be honest, those bonuses were probably more than he earned in a whole month.

"Thanks to that, he managed to speed up the home improvements he’d been working on through sheer sweat – tiling the floor, plastering and painting the walls, buying a wardrobe, a bigger bed. It felt incredible to contribute.

"The more Sao Paulo won, the more I could help at home. Footballers today complain about the packed calendar, but I couldn’t. Every victory meant more financial relief for my family. Instead of buying just one litre of milk, we could afford two. Instead of four bread rolls, we could buy six.

"Little upgrades like a better shirt for my parents or wearing new flip-flops instead of old, worn-out ones meant the world to us. Even now, it makes me emotional thinking about it. Helping my parents, who had sacrificed everything for us, was priceless."

After almost 200 appearances for O Clube da Fé, Denilson was poached by Betis, who broke the previous world transfer record, set by countryman Ronaldo a year earlier upon moving to Inter Milan from Barcelona.