From when we were very little we would talk about football at home. My dad had always wanted to become a footballer, but he didn’t make it to the professional level. He always played just for fun, so when me and my brother started to enjoy playing football, he would come and watch us. He could see that we had the potential to make it and that it could become something serious for us.

By the time I was around eight or nine years old, I was already playing against 12-year-olds and I was always better than everyone else on the pitch. So my dad took me to one side and said that, certainly, I should continue to study, but if I enjoyed my football I should start to dream about the possibility of making it, of becoming a footballer, because he felt I had shown real potential. A lot of the time that my dad spoke to me when I was little, it was about this – that he could see the potential in me and that I only needed to keep a good head on my shoulders and I could go all the way.

At first, I played five-a-side with two smaller teams from the city, called Gremetal and Portugarios, before I moved to Santos, where Pele used to play. That’s where I started to play 11-a-side football and, when I first began, I wanted to play as a number 10. When I was about 10 years old, though, the coaches said, 'Look, maybe it’s better if you play further back,' so I started to play as a central midfielder. But I always wanted to attack, to run, and in the end they decided to put me at left-back. It was meant to be for one game, but I played well there and from that moment I began to play solely as a full-back.

Santos is a lovely town on the coast, so there is sea and it’s always sunny. We lived near the beach, and when I wasn’t playing football at the youth club, I would go to the beach and play or sometimes go surfing or skateboarding. I really liked it there, it was a good place to grow up.

I was pleased to come all the way through the youth sector of the club and play for the first team, but when I was 20 they brought in another full-back for a lot of money and I didn’t play after that. At that time, I had the opportunity to move to Palermo, in Italy, and for me it was always a dream to play in Europe, so I moved across the ocean.

Life in Sicily was good. It seemed to me a lot like Santos – there was sea, sun – so in terms of the climate, it was nice. The problem initially was with the language, because there were no other Brazilians in the squad, so I felt a bit lonely. Then, after three or four months I had settled into the squad – Paulo Dybala was there as well, and he helped me a lot. So from then on it all went really well.

On the football side it was difficult at first. In Brazil, it’s always about attacking, always one-on-one, dribbling, this kind of thing. Then, when I arrived in Italy, it was just tactics, tactics, tactics – every day, tactics – and at first I struggled to understand Italian football. I got used to it eventually, and although it was very hard at the time, that experience helped me a lot.

After a year Roma signed me and I learned a lot in my three years there. I made some great friends, including Toni Rüdiger, an extraordinary guy and a great player, which he has shown in his time at Chelsea as well.

There was one person in particular who had a big impact on me at Roma because whatever he said when he spoke it always helped me, and that was Daniele De Rossi, who is the loudest player I’ve ever seen in the tunnel before a match. He was always shouting, 'Dai! Dai!', which is Italian for, 'Come on!' He was there with his big beard and his face roaring – incredible!

From the moment I arrived at Rome, I had a really good rapport with De Rossi. In my first few days, he said to me, 'Relax and play your game, I’m here if you need a hand with anything.'

He was always giving me advice so I built up a close relationship with him. Even when I was going into the dressing room to tell everyone I was coming to Chelsea, he was the same. He said, 'No, stay with us.' Then, when I said, 'No, Daniele, I have to go,' he hugged me and said, 'Okay, in that case go, you’re a great player and you deserve it. Go and show the world your worth, like you have done here at Roma. You’ve done brilliantly here, now go and see the world because you’ve earned it.'

When you’re 23 years old and someone like De Rossi says something like that to you, it’s a very, very good feeling – it was emotional for me.

I also had an incredible experience with Francesco Totti at Roma because the game when I seriously injured my knee was also his final match. For me that was the most emotional matchday I’ve been involved in up to this point in my career. That day, Totti was finishing his career, but I was in pain with a bad injury, and he made sure to come and see me afterwards and give me a hug. That was a beautiful moment that I will carry with me forever.

I was recovering from that injury when I found out Chelsea wanted me. It was January 2018 and I was on my way home from training at Roma when my agent called me to tell me there was an offer.

I was really happy, but surprised, because I was still on my way back from a bad knee injury at the time, so I didn’t really believe it at first. I thought, ‘No, I’m just coming back now, Chelsea won’t want me until I’m 100 per cent.’

Then, the next day, he called me again and said, ‘Hey, Chelsea want to sign you now, not in June. Do you want to go or not?’ Immediately, I said, ‘Look, I respect Roma, but if it’s Chelsea, I want to go.’

After that, it happened very quickly. The following morning I was in London, and that’s when I understood the reality – when I was there at Stamford Bridge, looking around the place in disbelief, thinking, ‘Two days ago I was training at Roma and now I’m here signing for Chelsea.’ It was a beautiful surprise.

For my family to see me playing for Chelsea and Italy makes them really happy and we thank God every day for giving me this opportunity. When I was young, I didn’t imagine I would reach this level – playing for the Italian national team, for Roma, and now for Chelsea. It’s something that I used to dream of, but then I would say to myself, ‘No, it’s too difficult. There are loads of footballers in the world, so why me?’

And now I have only to thank God for giving me the chance to realise my dream because, even though I always believed in myself and my potential, I knew it would be so difficult to get to where I am.