Beto told to lose weight after leaving Everton to join Fiorentina
The 28-year-old's late summer move to the Serie A side was a catalyst for major Everton fan frustration.
Despite consistently flattering to deceive during his Toffees career, his sale left David Moyes' centre-forward options incredibly thin.
No replacement arrived in the final hours of the window, sparking major criticism towards The Friedkin Group over the way this was all handled.
Luckily for Moyes and Everton, Thierno Barry has been stepping up in a big way, and looks primed for a major breakout season on Merseyside this term.
As for Beto, he's not enjoyed a dream start to life in Florence by any means.
What has former sporting director Pino Vitale said about Beto's condition?
As seen in the Premier League, players plying their trade in Serie A are always at risk of major scrutiny.
It's one of the most high-profile and watched leagues in European football, and Fiorentina are a club under a lot of pressure at the moment.
The Violets are a historically successful side, but they inexplicably plummeted from sixth in 2024-25 to 15th in Serie A last season.
They've already changed their manager this season, with Fabio Grosso sacked after losing his first three Serie A games in charge.
Last season's manager Paolo Vanoli is back in charge, and one of his big tasks will be to get Beto firing in a Fiorentina shirt.
However, speaking via Viola News, ex-sporting director Pino Vitale has told Vanoli that his striker is overweight.
"Beto? I saw him at Everton too; he's physically too big, a few pounds less wouldn't hurt him," Vitale said.
Is this fair from Vitale, or do Beto's underlying numbers actually suggest he's not in bad physical shape at all?
Why the data suggests Vitale is off the mark with Beto comments
In today's game with all the technology, facilities, nutritionists and the speed of top-flight football, it's hard for players to be out of shape.
Standing around 6'4" tall, Beto has always been a bigger-framed and physical striker.
But as proven by his underlying numbers, that hasn't bled a lack of fitness and energy into his game.
Per FotMob, his 3.67 aerial duels won per 90 minutes rank him in the top 11.4 percentile of all Serie A strikers this season.
Meanwhile, his 7.65 duels and 5.29 aerial duels won per game placed him in the top 8.2 and 10.2 percentiles of all Premier League strikers last term.
Beto's 335 metres spent sprinting and 15.6 sprints per game also ranked him in the leading 24.5 per cent of his Premier League positional rivals in 2025-26.
So, if Beto really was carrying too much weight, then he surely wouldn't be able to put up those kinds of numbers in the duels and distance covered departments.