L’Equipe delved into the career of Willian Pacho (23), defender for Paris Saint-Germain and Ecuador. Rolando Cedeño, president of Huracan de Quinindé, his first club, shares his memories of the Ecuadorian international.
“Everybody predicted a great future for him, because he was clearly made for it.
“When he arrived, he was already very tall. He was playing with the under-12s, but he was already fit enough to play in the higher categories, with the under-14s and even the under-16s, which is what we offered him. But he didn’t like skipping stages, and would reply, “If I’m an under-12 player, leave me with the under-12s.” He always refused.
He was a boy who attracted the attention of any coach, and everyone predicted a great future for him because he was clearly made for it.
“At the age of 12, he was already paying attention to his diet.
He was a very well-educated boy, very disciplined and always on time. He never went out, he went to bed early and, at the age of 12, he was already paying attention to his diet. He was convinced he would become a professional footballer – he had that dream.”
It’s always interesting to find out a little more about a player’s life before becoming a professional, with a passion that’s inevitably already present and a certain mentality to move forward on this far-from-simple path.
Here, it’s interesting to see that Pacho has always wanted to take his time, do his job seriously and aim high without rushing. In 2022, he moved to Belgium’s Royal Antwerp, a year later to Eintracht Frankfurt and a year after that to PSG.
It’s impressive, especially as Pacho seems to manage to adapt each time to a new challenge in order to integrate calmly into the team and perform regularly. It’s proof of his strength of character and professionalism, which seems to carry him to great heights. Let’s wait and see what happens next, but the promise is there.
