Ex-Santos Weslley Patati shines with strong start at Dutch club | OneFootball

Responsible for revealing great names to world football, Santos sees another “Menino da Vila” emerge in European football: Weslley Patati. Signed in August by AZ Alkmaar of the Netherlands, the forward quickly adapted and has already secured a starting position on the team.

Since arriving in Dutch football, Patati has scored two goals and provided two assists in 12 matches, one of them against Ajax—a result that helped AZ maintain an unbeaten streak in the fixture since 2022. These numbers surpass, for example, his early days at Santos and at Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel.

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“I am very happy with the moment I am experiencing in Europe. Since I arrived at AZ, I have been very well received, both by the fans and by all the staff and my teammates. This helped me a lot to feel adapted as quickly as possible. Little by little, I’ve been loosening up and managing to help the team on the field, and I will keep working so the club can achieve the goals set for the season,” he said.

  See this photo on Instagram   A post shared by AZ (@azalkmaar)

Weslley Patati’s Journey

At 22 years old, Weslley Patati began his career outside Brazil in September 2024, when he was sold to Maccabi Tel Aviv for 1.3 million euros (about R$ 8 million at the time’s exchange rate). Santos retained 40% of the player’s economic rights under the capital gain regime.

In Israel, Patati stood out, scoring 14 goals and providing nine assists in 40 matches, as well as winning the Israel State Cup and the Israeli Championship. Since then, he has worn the AZ shirt, where he competes in the Dutch Championship, the Dutch Cup, and the Conference League.

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“It’s a dream I’m living. The Netherlands is a great country to live in, with very beautiful places, excellent security, and a very strong football culture, just like ours. The league is very balanced, intense, and has players with a lot of technical quality. Also, I already had experience with English because of my time in Israel, and that made everything easier. I am very grateful for everything God has done in my life and I will keep looking to enjoy this moment to the fullest,” he concluded.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.