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“When you’re confident, you start being more in the moment, seeing where best to be, where best to make the runs – you start seeing things you didn’t see before when you were struggling.

“I was in that feeling [while playing for Udinese] in Italy and I believe that is why I succeeded and why I was more consistent, but when I arrived here, my instability in terms of minutes – playing, then not playing – affected me. And I’m not saying it was any of the managers’ fault, because this is all on the players.

“We, as players, need to show up. If you get dropped, then it’s tough to feed on five, 10, 15 minutes to get the momentum you want – but it’s on you to make it happen.”

Moyes’ role in that upturn in form has been crucial – and it’s been a firm approach from the Blues boss, rather than an arm around the shoulder, that has led to rediscovering Beto’s best.

“He is good at what he’s doing and managing me as a person – he is always challenging me,” reveals the Lisbon-born frontman. “I speak a lot with [Idrissa] Gana [Gueye] and, like he says, it is tough love with me! I understand it.

“He is on me, when I miss a chance, he is straight on me. If I make mistakes, he tells me, ‘Beto, don’t do too much – hold, set and go!’

“He’s a very experienced guy and he’s the boss, so I would never argue with him!”

It was Moyes, after all, who sanctioned the change of Beto’s squad number from 14 to the Club’s famous No.9 jersey ahead of the current season.

It is an honour, Beto reveals, he has only truly felt the depth of as time has passed.

“It means something to me, for sure, and even more now,” says Beto. “My favourite number is nine but, to be honest, I wasn’t fully aware of just how special the No.9 here at Everton was until I was about to take it here.

“I was speaking to [First Team Masseur] Jimmy [Comer] and he told me, ‘You know the No.9 here is more important than number 10, more than any number, don’t you?’

“After that, I saw more things about it and I saw how much the No.9 shirt is respected here with the history of it.

“You need to put in good performances and big shifts with this shirt. When you are in a bad moment, you don’t want to be in that for long. For me, it’s another challenge.”

There was a moment at the end of Everton’s 1-1 home draw with Leeds United in January when the previous incumbent of that No.9 shirt – Dominic Calvert-Lewin – made a beeline for Beto.

“Before I took the shirt, I actually messaged [Calvert-Lewin] and said, ‘Bro, I’m going to take this No.9 shirt,’” he reveals. “Dom replied saying he really respected my message about it because wearing it was something really important to him. He was happy for me and he just told me to do my thing, and said he knew the supporters will get behind me with the way I work.

“Dom is a really good guy. We still speak every once in a while and I’m really happy for him. I think he needed a change, not because he was bad with Everton or anything like that, but we spoke a lot about it and I think he just needed a change. We have a good relationship that I am grateful for.”

Beto refuted claims from a Sky Sports reporter that he had become a “cult hero” after a superb individual display in the thumping aforementioned win over Chelsea last month, insisting, “I don’t feel like a hero, but I feel like I’m home.”

He later described to evertontv how playing for the Club felt like “a gift from God”.

Emblazoned on one of the walls on the approach to Everton’s new changing rooms at the world-class Hill Dickinson Stadium sits, perhaps, the Club’s most-famous quote of all.

“Once Everton has touched you, nothing will be the same,” as Alan Ball once said.

“It’s something that resonates with me,” Beto says. “I have always been close with Gana and, in the past, it’s something I used to joke with him about and say, ‘Bro, you love Everton too much!’

“He always told me, ‘Of course – I love Everton – what’s not to love? The only thing bad is the weather!’

“With time, I understand more and more how he feels. The quote is true.”

The ongoing appreciation from supporters – regardless of form – has also played a significant part in those feelings.

“There is no doubt there is love for me,” says Beto. “It means a lot, you know? I go way back in my life and think about all of the challenges I have had and the journey and I say to myself, ‘I wasn’t even supposed to be here’, not in terms of not being deserving because I think I have worked hard and earned the place, but there are so many hurdles that could have stopped it from happening.

“Now I’m here and I am playing for a club like this, with the fans singing my name. It’s not just when things are going well, either. Even in bad moments, of course you will have critics and that is part of football – I never get angry at that, but you see the other side as well.

“I see supporters on the streets and they say, ‘Beto, just keep going, keep fighting’, and you see how much they value the work, the effort that I put in. This is something amazing. For me, it’s like, ‘Wow’.

“When I call friends from Portugal to come over to watch a game and they see it for themselves, they can’t believe it. I tell them, here, this is another level of support.”

Not for the first time in his Everton career, rumours were rife in January regarding a potential exit from Merseyside.

While Beto maintains his priority will always be to remain with the Toffees, his hopes for how he will be remembered by Evertonians after he departs – whenever that day may be – are clear.

“I want to be remembered as a good person, to be honest, a humble guy,” he insists. “It’s more important for me to be that than an astonishing player because I think the person comes before the player.