Now the Manchester City keeper hopes those early agonies will be forgotten as he takes another giant step on his tough journey with the joy of celebrating his first major honour in English football.
Victory over Arsenal today in the Carabao Cup Final at Wembley will make everything worthwhile after a poverty-stricken start to his life and leaving home at 16 to make his name at Benfica.
Ederson, 24, said: “Yes, I started playing football in the streets with my friends. It was barefoot and often I’d go back home with my toenails hanging off.
“But I was a really happy child and enjoyed myself a lot. My passion for playing football started off on the streets and thank God it ended up becoming my profession.
“I was only 11-years-old when I got signed by Sao Paulo. Even then I would skip school lessons so I could go out and play football with my friends just for fun.
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“My life was always between school and playing football. I literally didn’t do anything else. The only other thing I would do was go to bed – before starting the whole thing over again the next morning.
“My dream was to play for an English club and I always loved the Premier League. But I never thought I would get this opportunity so early in my career to play at City.
“Pep Guardiola is the best manager in the world in my opinion and you can see that in City’s performances this season. The way we play today is down to what he tells us during our training sessions.
“Obviously we have so many talented players in the squad but Pep brings a different level of quality to the team.”