Future Arsenal player Edwin Quintero scored on his senior debut for Independiente del Valle last week, sporting a unique haircut.
Independiente del Valle twin brothers Edwin and Holger Quintero are committed to joining Arsenal when they turn 18 in August 2027, but for the time being they remain with IDV in Ecuador.
As a result, Edwin Quintero was able to make his senior debut as a substitute last week, and he capped it with an excellent goal.
With IDV already 3-0 up, Quintero received the ball on the right-hand side before playing a pass through the lines to Hugo Quintana.
Quintana reversed a pass back into Quintero’s path, and the future Arsenal winger raced into the area, pulled off a ball roll to beat a defender, then fired into the net for his first senior goal. The goal is available to watch here or below from the timestamp 13:23.
Yet viewers may have been left confused by Quintero’s patchy hairstyle during the match, clearly visible in the footage as he celebrated the goal and in photos of the event afterwards. After all, the player had a full head of hair when he signed for Arsenal in December.
The explanation comes from a South American football ritual, with talkSPORT reporting that shaving a young player’s head is a rite of passage. The idea is to humble academy graduates for their first-team debut.
Unlike Edwin, Holger Quintero is still waiting on his senior debut, but he did make the IDV first-team squad for their Copa Ecuador win over Deportivo Santo Domingo in midweek.
Holger also won the Player of the Tournament award at the Liam Brady Cup at Hale End in May, so there’s not much to split the two brothers, and there’s plenty to be excited about when they finally arrive in north London for good.
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