Trained at Benfica, played for Porto and admits: I was a Sporting fan | OneFootball

Wilson Manafá recalled his time in Sporting’s youth setup as a period of great difficulty adapting to a much more demanding environment than the one he was used to. The 31-year-old full-back explained that the change in circumstances was abrupt.

"I was at Oliveira do Bairro, I trained twice with Benfica and they wanted to sign me. But I was a Sporting fan and said I wanted to play for Sporting". The player even admits he was not ready to make the step up to the highest level at Alvalade afterwards: "I felt I wasn’t ready. I had that year as a junior, then the B team, which was a huge jump from what I was used to," he told newspaper 'A Bola'.

In describing his development path, the current Shanghai Shenhua player also spoke about the gradual road to the academy, which ended up being decisive in his evolution as a professional. As for the possibility of representing Guinea-Bissau, the player, who also spent time with Porto, admits there were several opportunities.

“Yes, there were. When I was at Portimonense, they tried to call me up,” and he added that, later on, he believed a call-up to Portugal could happen: “in 2021 I came close. It was the year we reached the Champions League quarter-finals with Porto”.

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