A Brazilian club signed me when I was 18 and I played against Alisson and Philippe Coutinho, but I lived in the garage with 27 other players.
Many were surprised when Newcastle announced that Jamal Lewis would be loaned to Brazilian giants Sao Paulo for next season.
Lewis, who represents Northern Ireland on the international stage, will become the first British player to represent the club when he inevitably makes his debut.
In Sao Paulowho has won the Brazilian Serie A six times, the defender will join the former Tottenham star Lucas Moura as well as the former Bayern Munich duo Rafinha and Luiz Gustavo.
As much as Lewis can prepare for the big move, there will no doubt be several culture shocks along the way.
Just ask former amateur defender turned writer Seth Burkett, who spent time playing professionally in Brazil with Sorriso Esporte Clube (EC) between 2009 and 2010.
Speaking on talkSPORT Hawksbee and JacobsThe 33-year-old has spoken out about his bizarre journey of how a teenager from Peterborough ended up in South America.
Burkett explained how, while he was playing for Stamford, a Brazilian agent moved to England and began to become involved with the club.
The agent later suggested that Stamford's under-18s should travel to Brazil to take part in a youth football tournament in Salvador.
“It was an amazing experience,” Burkett told talkSPORT.
However, Burkett detailed how Stamford's first game proved to be a “sobering” experience, especially considering the opponent featured two future Liverpool superstars in Alisson and Philippe Coutinho.
“Our first game of the tournament was against the Brazilian national team, which was quite humbling for an under-18 team that doesn't play in a league,” Burkett said.
“Alisson was in goal, he didn't get close to him, obviously. Coutinho was also playing. Both were doing quite well. Alisson wasn't very well-known, but Coutinho had just signed for Real Madrid. Inter MilanSo they told us to be careful with him.”
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Although Stamford failed to make much of a splash at the tournament, Burkett was fortunate enough to be asked to train with Brazilian club Vitoria.
From that experience, Sorriso EC, a club located in a state called Mate Grosso, invited Burkett to return for a season and play for them.
“I initially went out to play in the Sao Paulo Cup, which is the equivalent of the FA Youth Cup,” Burkett said.
“After that, not because I was good at football but because I brought a lot of media attention to the club, I was offered a professional contract. I was by far the worst player on the team, but it was an amazing experience, it really was.”
As the only British professional in Brazil at the time, Burkett was often asked why he wanted to play there, to which he insisted it was because of the country's great football history.
But that didn't stop Burkett from giving Lewis a warning, especially regarding the inevitable language barrier.
“It was really difficult (to adjust),” Burkett said.
“I was 18 when I moved there. I thought everyone would speak English. It turned out that no one did.”
It's not just the language difficulties that can be a culture shock for Lewis.
Burkett spoke about the significant differences in training styles between England and Brazil, hinting that Lewis will spend more time on the pitch than ever before.
“Here (in England) it's 90 minutes and that's it,” Burkett said. “In Brazil the sessions are very long, two and a half to three hours, and there are often double sessions.”
“In the heat, that can be a challenge. I found that in the youth team, everything is done with the ball. Even when it's a 40-minute recovery run, you carry the ball with you and jog around the field.
“On the senior pro team I realised there wasn't really much ball work involved.”
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Burkett also detailed his time at Sorriso EC Academy and what the living conditions were like.
Already a Premier League player, Lewis has virtually no chance of a similar experience.
However, it will certainly give the Northern Ireland international some important insight into what his new team-mates may have been through.
“The football club I played for bought a garage and the whole team lived in that garage, which they then converted into a three-bedroom house,” Burkett said.
“There were 28 of us. There were bars on the windows, everyone was in bunk beds, the bathrooms had no doors, the showers were a single block of cement. They do this on purpose.
“They told me: 'In England, young players are given so much, how can they keep their enthusiasm, how can they stay motivated?' Even the best teams in Brazil make their youngest players live in these tough conditions so they stay motivated.”
Lewis will join up with his new teammates after Northern Ireland. League of Nations Matches against Luxembourg and Bulgaria.
The 26-year-old moves to Brazil after spending the 2023/24 season on loan at the Championship side. Watfordwhere he made 38 appearances in all competitions.
Lewis moved to Newcastle in September 2020 and played 26 times in his first season at the club.
However, the left-back fell down the pecking order and only played ten times for the Magpies in the following two campaigns.
