Signed from Figueirense in July 2007, Pedro Botelho is something of an enigma among Arsenal fans. The Brazilian is currently spending his fourth campaign away from the club as he bids to finally win a work permit and complete his dream switch to North London.
Botelho’s early career was marred by a selection of spats with various loan clubs, but now part of an experienced and competitive Cartagena team, Pedro is finally showing signs of reaching his potential. Two goals and a collection of assists have seen the 20-year-old become the Segunda’s leading light. Life in Murcia has clearly mellowed the party boy from the vibrant town of Salvador.
“I’ve changed a lot. I need time, but I’m slowly improving, and I feel I’m on the right track. Now I spend all day quietly at home, playing Pro Evolution Soccer on the PlayStation and without going to parties. I sometimes take my girlfriend to the movies, but I always fall asleep.”
The influence of former Gunner Pascal Cygan has been significant on Pedro, who often speaks to the Frenchman for advice. The confident full back has a tale similar to many Brazilian football stars; the battle against poverty to over come the odds and win a move to Europe. Yet this tale has a different edge.
“I was always playing in my neighborhood, with friends in the street, in Salvador. We just had a pair of stones as goalposts on the sand. The first club of my life was Figueirense, the youth team. I was 16 when I joined, and just six months later I saw a scout for Arsenal in Brazil, and he took me to London for two weeks. I passed a trial and I was there.”
Botelho’s rise to fame was sudden, but he is quick to remember and respect those who gave him his first steps in football.
“I want to be a great player, of course, like everyone else. But I never forget my neighborhood, my people and my city. I’m in Spain for them. Everything I do for is for my family and I suffer and want to be someone for them. My goal is that they can have a better life in the future”
That determination to succeed, for whatever reason, is powering Pedro to success. Never has he been closer to that goal of being a realistic option for Arsène Wenger. So what are his thoughts and ambitions about finally playing for The Gunners?
“Now I’m in Cartagena, I want to make things right. But my dream is to return to London, and play many years in England and be a major player in the Premier League. Arsenal told me that they count on me for the future. They believe that these loans in Spain are helping me a lot.
“Soon I’ll be in England, playing with the best players in the world.”
seems like he has mellowed immensely. be good to see him over here making a fight for a place in the squad
J do you think this kid will be a LB or a LW for us in the future
as a LB with Gibbs and Clichy in front of him I can see him becoming anything more than a squad player
as a LW with his dribbling skills, tricks and his pin point crossing I think he can be a real force and maybe even challenge Arshavin for the spot
what do you think? since you have seen him play the most
by the looks of it he’s doing extremely well in spain
he has played 7 games scored 2 goals and 1 assists, not bad for a LB
imagine being taken to arsenal 6 months into your football career, crazy.
i hope this kid has a great year and comes back after the summer ready to really exert some pressure on gibbs and clichy.
i like clichy but he seems to have gone off the boil in recent seasons, maybe he needs a kick up the bum.
botelho looks really handy going forward too, much more than gibbs or clichy. he could play in a more advanced position too, maybe as cover for arshavin and vela.
i wonder where he will fit in too many LB’s already in traore gibbs and clichy also t cruise to the mix in a couple years LW is an option but you got Arshavin nasri vela walcott and Silva in January…. hmmmn unless clichy is moved on there was talk last year of a move to barca who knows.
on another issue J is it true that young Jack has been offered a new contract of double money to 40k p/w and if so does that mean cesc is gone next year ??
you can tell he’s got a it of the bendtner/szczesny personality about him too…maybe a bit more humble…
total character, that’s what we need more of. i’m tired of these shoulder-shrugging anonyms. we seem to have a few of them.
Didn’t he get kicked out for sleeping with the daughter of the club president at one of the teams we loaned him to? If he really mellowed down, well and good. He’s pretty highly rated in South America :D
Yes, that sounds good for Botelho. if he decided to do away with skirts and knickers, he is such a great talent.
The LB position is filling up, but that’s the point of the Arsenal system. Create competition, then sell off those who don’t make it. If Arsenal could get that working at CB or DM then Arsenal would be set.
Definetly think we need another quality DM but we are playing this stupid 4-2-3-1 now so I guess it doesn’t matter as much because you have 2 guys doing the defensive work. I feel Song looks lost on what now to do though. Before it was simple…he just sat behind the midfield 2. I said we looked really disorganized now after the 2nd game and we are still seeing that.
Scott – Not sure what Arsenal system you are watching, but it seems we dont only get rid of the ones that dont make it, we are open to getting rid of the ones that can or have too. Hopefully this will change, the pos news in the summer with regards to Cesc suggests it might, but lets see what next summer has in store.
A big decision on the LB spots in the squad that faces Wenger next season (11/12) is that 4 LBs will have to be registered so it’s a case of SQUAD, LOAN or SELL.
The 4 players are Clichy, Gibbs, Traore & Botelho. Also Thomas Cruise is speaking up wanting games.
So my thoughts are Clichy & Gibbs are the 1 & 2 LBs in the squad. Gibbs will eventually take over as the first choice and Clichy sold on for another hefty profit!
Botelho, T Cruise will be sent out on loan next season.
Traore time to call it quits. If Juve put up the money, take it I’d say!
Everytime I have seen him play, he looks very average but who knows. If he has matured maybe he has also improved on the pitch. On the leftback situation.
I don’t get the Clichy thing. He looked like he was on the way to the top 3 years ago but sense then he seems to be getting worse. I could honestly see him being the guy that is sold this summer because I couldn’t really see him backing up Gibbs. I hope Clichy gets it together though because he could be a great leftback.
I see his a little like Bastos. Can play both LW and LB.
Great work J. As a brazilian I really hope Pedro makes it at Arsenal. As a side note I heard Spain Federation is interested in Pedro and they could call himm to the U-21’s squad. Do you know anything about this J?
does anybody know the chances of Wellington Silva being granted a work permit?
it seems people are just assuming he will get one but he doesn’t stand up to the required requirements.
The odd thing is that we got these young LB prospects coming through our reserve like products on a conveyer belt(Cashley, Clichy, Gibbs, Traoré) to become world-class players, while on the right flank the shortage is so severe that we have to deploy players like Nordveit or Cruise playing out of their original position.
glad is attitude changed. A true gem!! Also to note every football player likes more PES than FIFA :-) lol. This shows me which is the “real” football game!! Anyway good work as always J.
” i always take my girlfriend to movies but alays fall asleep”
man I pity him..she must be boring like hell
no place for that at arsenal
I think he will be our second choice Leftback in few years. Clichy has been in poor form of late and altough i want to keep him i would take a 15m-20m offer from Real Madrid that seem to get linked with him every year. Keep up the good worg Pedro !
Keep up the good work Pedro!
Last nite, i watched the fluminise vs cruizerio game.I must admit, I was hoping 2 see Wellington play, was dissapointed when the commentator mentioned that the coach of Flu didnt hv much faith in Wellington, apparantely he claims his heart is not there, he is already an Arsenal player @ heart so he can not count on him. It seems as well that Flu have a lot of injuries (Deco also being injured last night) but the commentator went on to say that he doubts if Wellington would make much of a difference even if he was available. Doesnt seem our Wellington has really set the scene alight in the Brazilian league bt i cant wait to see him play in January.
This is perhaps a bit off-topic but I wonder where did you find that picture of Emirates Stadium, or is it your own? I really like it. :-)
Thanks!
Off topic! Good Luck Pedro! Hey fans in the USA(Northeast)? YES network has launched ArsenalTV programming check your local listings!
great interview, did you do it yourself?
oh, nvm… you got it from here
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.canalefese.es%2Fnoticias%2F2010-09-16%2Fincreible-historia-pedro-botelho-20100916.html
haven’t seen the kid play before, but by the sounds of it, Botelho seems like an interesting prospect. Can’t wait to see him (Wellington Silva) to come and play for us next year
simple yet great article, Jamie (like always) Cheers mate
*him (and Wellington Silva)