Wesley Lopes da Silva (born 10 November 1980), known mononymously as Wesley, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a striker. Apart from his native country, he represented teams in Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Romania, Saudi Arabia and Colombia.
Wesley spent the most successful part of his career with Romanian club Vaslui between 2009 and 2013, netting 61 times to become the Liga I top foreign goalscorer. He went on to add three more goals to his record with a later spell at Politehnica Iași, before being surpassed by compatriot Eric de Oliveira in 2020.
For his performances in the latter country, Wesley was twice named the league's Foreign Player of the Year. He won his only team trophy, the Crown Prince Cup, with Saudi Arabian team Al-Hilal in 2013.
Career
He joined Penafiel who were then playing in the Liga de Honra on 14 August 2003. He scored 9 goals in his first season alongside Roberto who scored 20 goals and Hamilton dos Santos Júnior who scored 9 goals. This helped Penafiel top win promotion by finishing in third place. In his second season, he was the fourth top-scorer of the Portuguese Liga. He crossed the border to join La Liga newcomer Deportivo Alavés in August 2005. Wesley returned to Portugal in 2007 joining Paços Ferreira. In the 2007/08 season, he scored 11 goals. Wesley has moved to Leixões for the 2008/09 season. On 24 November Wesley announced in a press conference that he would be moving to the Dubai club Al-Wahda at the end of December.
Vaslui
2009
Wesley completed his move to SC Vaslui on a two-and-a-half-year contract on 22 January 2009 for an undisclosed fee reported to be $1m, which set a new record for FC Vaslui and made him the most expensive footballer for the club. On 6 February, he made his unofficial debut for FC Vaslui, in the friendly match against Standard Baku. At the end of Vaslui's winter training camp, Wesley was his team's top scorer, netting five goals in seven games. On 27 February, Wesley capped his Liga I debut with a goal, scoring Vaslui's only goal from Nemanja Milisavljević's cross in a 1–1 away draw against Steaua București. On 14 March, he scored Vaslui's first goal, from the penalty spot in a 3–0 away win against Gloria Bistriţa. One week later, he scored his third goal for FC Vaslui, in a 4–2 home league win against Farul Constanţa, counting his first goal on Municipal. On 14 April, Wesley scored Vaslui's first goal from a scissor-kick following Nemanja Milisavljević's cross, in a cup match against Unirea Urziceni, helping his team to advance in the semi-finals for the first time. Four days later, during a two-minute stretch in the first half against Politehnica Timișoara, Vaslui came back from a two-goal deficit to win the match with 4–3, with Wesley scoring one of the goals. On 11 June, he scored Vaslui's winning goal against Universitatea Craiova, helping his team finishing fifth in Liga I and securing its spot for UEFA Europa League, for the second year in a row. He ended his first season in Romania, netting eight goals and providing one assist for SC Vaslui in all competitions.