Pepê to Record: “William Gomes in the national team soon” | OneFootball

“I’m certain that, very soon, he’ll be in the Brazil squad.” That was how Pepê mapped out William Gomes’s future, with a conviction rooted in the young winger’s breakthrough season for FC Porto.

Winning the national title owed a great deal to the contribution of Brazilian players, although that was not enough to put Thiago Silva, William Gomes and Pepê on Carlo Ancelotti’s final list for the 2026 World Cup, which will be played this summer in the United States, Canada and Mexico. More than the impact of those absences, what remains is the feeling that the level they showed throughout the season might have deserved greater attention from the Seleção coach.

Of the three, only two have already had the chance to represent Brazil’s senior national team. Pepê has two senior caps and sees William Gomes as a name with room to reach that level. The Dragons’ number 7, who turned 20 in March, completed his first full season in European football with a solid return: 13 goals and two assists in 46 matches.

At Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport, speaking to newspaper Record before heading off on holiday to Brazil, between checking in luggage and saying goodbye to family and friends staying in Porto, Pepê reiterated his confidence in his compatriot. “We know the Brazil squad is very hard to get into, right? But I talk a lot with William. I tell him to keep working, to stay on this path, because he’s a very young kid with enormous potential,” he said.

If, in William Gomes’s case, the fierce competition and his youth help explain the omission, Thiago Silva’s absence raises more questions. With 113 caps and a unique career in Brazil colours, the centre-back was left out of Ancelotti’s plans, a decision Pepê finds hard to understand. “Thiago deserved it so much, for everything he represents to the national team and for what he had been doing. He was already doing a great job at Fluminense and here, at FC Porto, he only took his level even higher,” said the 29-year-old winger.

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