Another year, and another young prospect gone. Several of Arsenal’s promising youngsters do not reach their estimated potential and eventually leave the club to play elsewhere. This time, the departure is of a player who has been at the club for a while, but never made a senior appearance.
According to The Daily Cannon, Wellington Silva, once touted to be the next ‘big’ thing at Arsenal, is set to leave the North London club to rejoin his former club, Fluminense. This is according to a tweet put in by Renan Moura, a reporter who works with CBN Rio.
Silva joined Arsenal in 2010, being loaned out a total of 6 times between 2010 and 2016, most recently to relegated championship side Bolton. Before that, he made a total of 132 appearances for Levante, Alcoyano, Ponferradina, Murcia and Almeria.
In this time, Silva did not make a single senior team appearance for the Arsenal. How could he?! He was always out on loan!
This was mainly due to a work permit issue regarding his stay in London, one that took a good 4 years to resolve. It was only on the 15th of April, 2014, that he was finally given a Spanish Passport, allowing him to play in the United Kingdom.
However, even after receiving a work permit, Wellington Silva was loaned to to Bolton to gain some experience in English football, with the idea that he would be able to acclimatise to the English game and to the weather.
He never really got a chance to prove himself, in spite the fact that many including Arsene Wenger himself has consistently rated him highly. In fact, the report in The Daily Cannon also claims that Arsene Wenger had praised him highly before his move to Bolton. The report claims that Wenger had this to say about the Brazilian:
“He’s absolutely stunning to watch and I believe Bolton will be surprised by his quality ”
Clearly, neither Wenger nor Bolton have been impressed with the youngster. He has now agreed to a 4 year deal back at home where he will hopefully grow and evolve into the great player people expect him to evolve into. Fortunately, the Brazilian still has time on his hands.
At 23, he might just end up being a late bloomer who may be recalled to a big club in the future.
