From drug gangs in Brazil to Premier League sensation

"In that moment I was very afraid," said the Watford striker. "Because if they just pulled the trigger then it was over. He told us that if he found us again he would shoot us without any problem, me and my friends."

Richarlison was only 14 years old, playing football in the streets of Nova Venecia in south-east Brazil, and a gun was pressed up against his head. The gunman issued all kinds of threats for encroaching his drug-dealing territory.

"I think they confused me with someone else. It was drug traffickers who thought I was stealing their drugs but I was just playing with my friends. I turned away and started to run. I never went back to that street. I didn't say anything to him. I was very afraid."

The striker made sure to keep on the straight and narrow when growing up and he had the chance to return home last week after a sensational start to his Premier League career.

"It's a very nice place for me, a place I love. As soon as I got the chance, the first thing I do is fly there. It's the place where I have all my family, my best friends. It's a place I like a lot."

"In that part of the city there were drugs and weapons everywhere. But I used to sell ice cream from a cart and I used to clean cars in the street. I worked for the guy who had the shop. I would go out with his goods and I had to come back when it was dark. Whatever I sold, I took half."

"The majority of my friends went to sell drugs in the street because they saw easy money; a lot of money. But I knew it was wrong so I sold chocolate and ice cream and washed cars because I knew that was the right thing to do. And I could help my mother."

"My friends always used to tell me: 'Oh come here, don't be a little girl, come and smoke with us, come and sell with us, you can make much more money'. But the football coaches I had, they were working with the police and they always gave me suggestions of what to do, the correct things to do and what were not. And it was the same at home. So this is why I didn't choose the criminal life."

Despite a whirlwind start in English football, he wasn't offered his first contract until he was 17 which is when he bought his first pair of boots: "It was because I signed my official contract and I could buy my first official boots. Before I used to play with just whatever I found, one boot off one guy and one boot from another!"

"At 17, I also went to do a trial at Figueirense [then a top-flight Brazilian club] and they didn't accept me. It's extremely difficult as the game passes by, you're older, it's more difficult because they require players almost ready to play."

"And when I went to try at Figueirense, they had 30 trials and they would take one from each trial. So it's not easy. At America Mineiro there were 15 trials and I managed to get in but still it was very difficult. It's extremely hard, especially in Brazil where everyone plays football. But I started with America Mineiro and I'm extremely happy because I had some great moments and that's where my story started."

"With Ajax everything was done. We just needed to sign the last papers. Then Marco called me and told me I could play in his tactics, in one of the three forward positions. He told me I was going to play and he knew all about my qualities and he wanted me. I didn't think about it and I'm very glad I chose Watford."

"He gave me a lot of confidence over the phone, and that is not easy for a manager to do. I appreciated that a lot and he convinced me I was going to be very happy here. He was extremely important, especially because he speaks Portuguese. Understanding what the manager wants and how I should play has been very important."

"I was always, always running. I was running since I was small. And it is something I also learned from watching my father because he never gave up on the pitch and was looking to score the goal. This is something I want to do now as well and I'm going always to look for the goal and never give up until the last moment and if I can give the assist, I give the assist."

"When my father played in the local team, I always used to go with him to watch him. He played as a striker. He was very good, he used to score a lot of goals. Once he scored seven goals in one game. His dream was to become a professional footballer and in the end he couldn't make it. But thanks to God now I made it."

"At the moment this is a dream come true, playing in the Premier League. But the biggest dream would be playing in the World Cup for Brazil with great players. I have to do my best here to try to achieve that."