“I just want to score goals” - Beto shows no signs of slowing down

Beto’s incredible explosion in front of goal has been a revelation for this Everton side under David Moyes. In the absence of Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Armando Broja, the Guinea-Bissau international was tasked with the number 9 role and he has delivered goals by a handful.

Confidence is a deal-breaker in football and while it’s a necessary asset to possess everywhere on the pitch, a striker is dependent on it more than others. For Beto and given the red-hot form he is in right now, visualising goals has become a habit.

“You know, it's when you have the confidence... if you asked me this one month ago, I would not say this. I would just go to the game and try to do the best I can, to fight for the team, to receive the ball," he told the club's website.

“But now that I'm getting the fitness and the minutes that I wanted to, I’m getting my confidence back. I see myself as a complete athlete, a complete striker, so I think I can score in any situation, so that's why I'm confident like this because I believe in myself.

“I speak with Gana a lot and he said to me, 'You just always want to score goals!', and I said, 'Gana, I can score 20 goals and zero assists - I don't care!'... I just want to score goals and he joked that I am a selfish guy but I am not selfish - I just want to score goals. It's in my body, it's me - I just want to score goals.”

The extended run of games that Beto has been getting, partly because of injuries to others, has given him rhythm and confidence for the first time in his Everton career. He made 37 appearances for Everton last season - most of them from the bench. With 22 appearances so far this term, Beto is just two full 90s away from matching his minutes from last season.

“This, for me, is like the opportunity I never had in Everton. This is the first time I'm feeling like this, this excited to play every game. I just want to play this next game to see how it's going to be. I don't want to have one week off without a game. I just want to keep playing, keep playing, because before I wasn't playing. 

“So now that I'm playing and I feel that I'm getting better and better, I want to test myself. And when you score, as a striker, the confidence goes higher and higher. The team is helping me a lot. They're trying to find me. I can see they trust me. They trust in my strength and I just want to pay back the trust they put on me.”

Having recently visited the new Everton stadium at Bramley Moore Dock, Beto told the club that he’s excited about the prospect of how loud the stadium is going to be when the Toffees begin playing there next season onwards.

Hailing the atmosphere as ‘crucial’, Beto said, “To play against us in Goodison, you need to get through the atmosphere, the fans, and the fans are a big factor in the way we play at home, and it's good. This new stadium is similar - it's close, and I know it's going to be loud.”

Well aware of the fact that he has been a catalyst in making some lifelong memories for fans at Goodison in the club’s final season there, Beto has admitted that it’s going to be an emotional experience for him and his teammates as well.

“I know the last game will be something amazing because it will be a mix of emotions and even my teammates who have been here a long time, I asked them, 'You guys... Seamus, Gana - you guys are going to cry?', and Seamus said, 'Me? For sure', and Gana said, 'I don't know how I will feel but probably yes, I will cry', so it will be a mix of emotions and we just we just want to give them this joy in the last season in Goodison. So we are doing a good job in this moment and we need to keep going.”

 

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