Aston Villa’s Wesley: I had to do everything to become a professional
„I was young,“ Wesley laughs, eyes widening. „I couldn’t go in and elbow Diego Costa.“
With a grin as wide as he is tall, the Aston Villa striker recalls his first training session with the first team at Atletico Madrid. „I played there when I was 17 for six months. I was a little bit afraid with these big players there; Diego Costa, Miranda and Raul Garcia, but it was amazing.“
Afraid at 17 but by that point he’d already had to do a lot of growing up. Things came early in life for Wesley, apart from perhaps the football.
Two goals against Norwich before the international break saw the 6ft 3in Brazilian alongside Liverpool’s Mo Salah in the Premier League scoring charts but it’s a world away from where he might have been, had it not been for perseverance.
Wesley’s dad passed away when he was just nine years old. „When my father died, it was difficult because my mum was alone with me and my brothers but she worked and now today I do everything for her.
„When I finish training I call my mum because she is everything. My mum did everything to help me play so everyday when I come home I call her.“ It’s not just his mother and brothers who he has supporting Villa from back home in the south-east of Brazil.
„I had my first child when I was 14 years old, it was difficult because it was during this time that I started to try and play football professionally. I had to work in the day and then go to training in the evening.“
Playing football and being a father proved a tough balancing act but he began to take the sport more seriously when baby number two came along. „I was 14 when I had my first kid and 16 when I had my second. When I had my children I told myself I had to do everything to be a football player.“
It was a lot of pressure for Wesley to deal with, the Premier League must seem like a breeze, „When I play I have to think about my family, my kids, my mum, everybody.“
The clock was ticking then. Make it as a professional footballer or get a job in order to support his new family. Wesley made the journey to Spain for six months but despite training and learning from Diego Costa, his trial didn’t work out at Atletico Madrid.
Shorter spells in France went the same way and he soon found himself back in Brazil working in a factory, „I had to do something,“ he says. „I had to get money for my kids. I would go to a team and every team said no. I went to six teams before going to Slovakia.
„When I went to the sixth team I thought I didn’t want to play football anymore. I thought it was finished for me. Then I got a chance.“
The opportunity came when he was 19 in a small town called Trencin in Slovakia, quite the contrast to what he was used to. „The first few weeks there were difficult. It was very very cold. The first three months I think it was snowing all the time.“
He gestures towards his toes. „I came from Brazil and I couldn’t feel my feet so it was difficult to play football.“ Temperatures barely climbed above freezing in Trencin but that was where Wesley’s career began to take an upward trajectory.
He converted from a midfielder to a striker. „When you play midfield you have to think fast and then I moved to play as a striker and kept thinking fast.“ A forward as sizeable as Wesley was a tricky proposition for defenders and a transfer to Club Brugge in Belgium quickly followed.
Nineteen league goals across two seasons saw Villa pay out a club-record fee for Wesley following their promotion to the Premier League, so does the 22-year-old think about what might have been? „I am very happy playing in the Premier League in the biggest competition in the world.
„Every day I think about the past, you know, what I was thinking when teams were saying no to me so I’m very happy now that I have this job.“
Wesley’s rise from struggling to make ends meet in Brazil to early success in England becomes even more remarkable when you consider that he has a condition he can do nothing about.
His right leg is almost three centimetres shorter than his left. „I don’t know what I can say“, he chuckles. „I have my legs like this you know and I don’t have any pain or anything like that. I hope to continue like this.“
Wesley’s head coach at Aston Villa Dean Smith does his due diligence before signing any player. He goes to meet them and looks for one particular first impression. „Can they hold a conversation with me?“ Smith says.
Wesley certainly has a story to tell.
Soccer Accumulator Bonus
Our fantastic Euro Soccer accumulator offer gives you the chance to earn a bonus of up to 100% on accumulators on the top domestic leagues in Europe along with the group and knockout stages of the Champions League.
This offer applies to returns on pre-match accumulators of 3 or more selections on Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for the English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga 1 or UEFA Champions League.
The maximum bonus that you can receive is ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. The bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based .on the remaining active stake. If a qualifying bet is edited .using our Edit Bet feature. The bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply. Double Chance bets or combination bets with bonuses. Such as Lucky 15’s or Lucky .31’s do not apply for this offer.
If your bet is successful, we will add the following bonuses to your returns:
Bet Type Bonus
14-folds and upwards 100% bonus
Terms and Conditions
Applies to straight pre-match accumulator bets on the Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for UEFA Champions League, English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga .1 or Australian A-League matches. Maximum bonus ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. Soccer Accumulator Bonus does not apply to Double Chance bets or combination. bets with bonuses such as Lucky 15’s, Lucky 31’s etc.
If any selections are postponed/void then the bonus will still apply, but the percentage bonus added will reflect the actual number of winning selections. For example, an 8-fold accumulator with 7. winners and 1 postponed match will receive a 30% .bonus to returns.
The bonus part of your returns will be added to your account within 24 hours of your final selection having played.
This bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based on the remaining active stake.
If a qualifying bet is edited using our Edit Bet feature, the bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply.
Where any term of the offer or promotion is breached or there is any evidence of a series of bets placed by a customer or group of customers, which due to a deposit bonus, enhanced payments, free bets, risk free bets or any other promotional offer results in guaranteed customer profits irrespective of the outcome, whether individually or as part of a group, bet365 reserves the right to reclaim the bonus element of such offers and in their absolute discretion either settle bets at the correct odds, void the free and risk free. bets or void any bet funded by the deposit bonus.
In addition bet365 .reserve the right to levy an administration charge on the customer up to the value of the deposit bonus, free bet, risk free bet or additional payment to cover administrative costs. We further reserve the right to ask any customer to provide sufficient documentation for us to be satisfied in our absolute discretion as to the customer’s identity prior to us crediting any bonus, free bet, risk free bet or offer to their account.
All bet365 offers are intended for recreational players and bet365 may in its sole discretion limit the eligibility of customers to participate in all or part of any promotion.
bet365 reserves the right to amend, cancel, reclaim or refuse any promotion at its own discretion.
