Most football players have an interesting story, waiting to be told. Such is the case of Wellington Silva.
Wellington Silva’s career has gone to some interesting places, and many view him as a player who never got to realise his true potential. It is a story with an incredible beginning but from that point onward, it was mostly hurdles and complications for this young talent. Here we will go over the career of Wellington Silva, see how it all started, what complications emerged, and where it ultimately ended up.
Trial at Arsenal
Back in 2008, a young Brazilian player Wellington Silva started his trial at Arsenal in a game against Norwich. Within the first minute of the game, Wellington scored, and his triumph did not stop there. Throughout the rest of the game, Wellington helped Arsenal win with an amazing lead, scoring four goals.
Arsenal were quick to act on this spectacular trial game and started lining up the transfer for the young Brazilian. However, this is when the first obstacle came up, and it was related to regulations. Since Silva was under 18 years of age, he was not allowed to complete a transfer, which meant he would have to remain in Fluminese for another 2 years. Luckily at that time, Arsenal were willing to wait as Silva was definitely worth it.
Going Back and Forth
During this 2-year period, Arsenal managed to obtain a temporary work visa for Wellington, allowing him to go back and forth from England to Brazil. This also allowed him to play during friendly matches and the audience got the chance to notice him. It’s no surprise that Arsenal fans were also looking forward to this transfer, considering how there were plans for Wellington to play in a senior league immediately. This definitely affected how players viewed the club’s performance as well as the betting odds in their favour. Those who visited different betting sites like Realcasinoscanada were looking forward to any sportsbetting opportunity to put their money on Arsenal. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned, mainly due to the situation in Brazil.
Talent Visa Rejected
Stories of Wellington showing late for the Fluminense team practice started to circulate, and his lack of commitment had an impact on this transfer. Because of the insufficient playtime for the team, he was denied a special talent visa needed to transfer for Arsenal. He went to mainland Europe on loan and played for five different Spanish teams in four years.
Wellington did not really thrive in this loan system which had a negative impact on his progress, but he did spend enough time in Europe to qualify for the passport. So in 2015, he finally returned to Arsenal, but his hopes of making the first-team squad were stomped. Even after joining officially, he was loaned out once again.
Back to Fluminese
Because Silva spent so much time in the loan system and, because his performance suffered, Arsenal somewhat gave up on him. They were hoping to nurture his talent a lot sooner, which is why now they had one new goal, and that was to return the profit they invested in the young player. They planned on selling him to Bordeaux as they made the best offer for a now 24-year-old player. However, Wellington failed his medical exam in France, and they decided not to move forward with the scheduled transfer.
As this deal with Bordeaux did not go through, the Brazilian was sent back home to Fluminese and remained there ever since. This is really not the outcome anyone could predict back in 2008 when the young player started his trial and outshone everyone else at the pitch that day.
Conclusion
If there is one take away from this story is that a football career is so much more than raw talent. The ending looks really unsatisfactory, and we can’t help but wonder what could have been if things played out differently. Arsenal could have molded this player into an absolute superstar, and they might have given up on him too soon. However, money makes the world go around, and businesses don’t take leaps of faith if they do not have to.