Welliton
 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Welliton Soares de Morais | ||
| Date of birth | 22 October 1986 | ||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Striker | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Chelsea | ||
| Number | 11 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Goiás | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2005–2007 | Goiás | 41 | (16) |
| 2006 | → Ituano (loan) | 32 | (10) |
| 2007–2012 | Spartak Moscow | 96 | (57) |
| 2012- | Chelsea | 0 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17:50, 19 March 2012 (UTC) | |||
Welliton Soares de Morais, or simply Welliton, (born 22 October 1986 in Conceição do Araguaia) is a Brazilian football striker who plays for Chelsea.
Club career
Welliton started his career playing for the Brazilian side Goiás. In July 2007 he moved to Russian club Spartak Moscow, signing a five year contract. He has been a very prolific scorer and won the top scorer title in the 2009 and 2010 seasons.
To begin the 2008 season, Welliton scored six times in his first nine matches.[1] Former Russia midfielder Aleksandr Mostovoi heaped praise on the young striker after his performance in a 3–0 away win at Rubin, stating "He has overcome all problems with passage into a new country. He is young, fast, technical, an ideal artist who acts along the entire front line of attack, not just along the flanks as this past season."[2] Unfortunately, his stellar start was cut short due to a muscle tear that forced him out of action for 10 months.[3]
After a successful return in 2009, Welliton helped Spartak early to a prime position to qualify for the UEFA Champions League after finishing a dismal 8th place in 2008. He scored his first career hat-trick on 8 August 2009 at Spartak Nalchik.[4] He scored six goals in the final seven matches to secure the scoring title and a berth in the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League group stage for Spartak.
His excellent form has continued into the 2010 Russian Premier League season as he again became the top scorer, this time with 19 goals.
In August 2010, Welliton scored two consecutive hat-tricks. On 15 August he netted three goals in an away game against Moscow rivals Lokomotiv Moscow, which ended 2–3. On 21 August 2010, he scored another hat-trick, this time against Tom Tomsk in a 4–2 win at home. The latter was scored just in 6 minutes and became the fastest hat-trick in the entire history of Spartak (this record had been previously held by Vladimir Beschastnykh with 9 minutes).[5]
Chelsea
On 14th July, it was announced Welitton had been signed by Chelsea for a fee of £15 million, replacing Didier Drogba who had gone to Shanghai Shenua. After completing a medical, he was officialy unveiled as a Chelsea player on the 17th of July.
International
Welliton has not been called up by Brazil and has expressed interest in representing Russia, in November 2011 Spartak Moscow announced they were in the process of helping Welliton acquire a Russian passport.[6]
==Honours== [7]
- Goiás State League: 2006
- Russian Premier League top scorer (2): 2009 (21 goals), 2010 (19 goals)
References
- ^ "2008 Player Statistics – Welliton" (in Russian). Sports.ru. 11 May 2008.
- ^ "Александр Мостовой: "Абсолютно точно "Спартак" не станет чемпионом в этом году"" (in Russian). Sports.ru. 1 April 2008.
- ^ "Веллитон: "После тренировки не испытываю никакого дискомфорта"" (in Russian). Sports.ru. 16 December 2008.
- ^ "Match Statistics: 8 August 2009 Spartak Nalchik 2–4 Spartak Moscow" (in Russian). Sports.ru. 8 August 2009.
- ^ "ВЕЛЛИТОН СОТВОРИЛ САМЫЙ БЫСТРЫЙ ХЕТ-ТРИК В ИСТОРИИ "СПАРТАКА"" (in Russian). FC Spartak Moscow. 21 August 2010. Retrieved 25 August 2010.
- ^ "Spartak Moscow's Brazilian Striker Welliton Eager To Represent Russia". goal.com. 1 December 2009. Retrieved 6 June 2010.
- ^ manchester united