Wesley Darius Donald Charles (born 10 December 1987) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. He played in the English Football League for Brentford, Stevenage, Burton Albion, AFC Wimbledon and Wycombe Wanderers.
Charles started his career after progressing through the Brentford youth system and he made his first-team debut in 2005. He was loaned out by Brentford on seven occasions and he joined the last of these, Ebbsfleet United, permanently in 2009 in a historic transfer. Six months later, a proposed transfer to York City fell through, after he decided against moving to the city. He spent another season with Ebbsfleet before signing for Stevenage in 2010.
Club career
Brentford
Charles first played football aged 11 while at school, for Greenford Celtic. He later played for Drayton Manor before signing for the Centre of Excellence at Brentford at age 10. He made his first-team debut as a left midfielder in a 2–1 victory over Hull City on 7 May 2005; the final day of the 2004–05 season. He made his first appearance of 2005–06 in the Football League Trophy against Oxford United, which finished as a 1–1 draw after extra time and a 4–3 defeat in a penalty shoot-out, while Charles played as a left-back. His first league appearance of the season came as an 88th minute substitute in a 1–1 draw with Chesterfield on 10 December 2005. He went on to play as a 32nd-minute substitute in a 3–3 draw with Bradford City on 2 January 2006, which proved to be his final appearance of the season for Brentford, which he finished with three appearances. In mid January 2006, he signed a one-year professional contract with a one-year option, effective from June 2006. He was loaned out to Conference South club Thurrock on 3 February 2006, where he made one appearance, in a 1–0 defeat to Weston-super-Mare. He was subsequently sent out to Yeading on 16 March 2006 on a work experience deal, and he made his debut in a 2–1 defeat to Eastbourne Borough, before finishing the loan spell with six appearances.
After having made nine appearances for Brentford during 2006–07, he signed for Staines Town of the Isthmian League Premier Division on 16 October 2006 on a one-month loan. He made two appearances for Staines before returning to Brentford in November 2006. He joined Conference National club Crawley Town on 9 February 2007 on loan until the end of April. He made his debut a day later after coming on as a 72nd-minute substitute in a 2–2 draw with St Albans City. He finished the loan spell with six appearances. He played for Brentford on five further occasions, which included scoring the winning goal in the 89th minute of a 4–3 victory over Port Vale, and he finished the season with 19 Brentford appearances. Brentford took up their option for his contract to be extended for another season in May 2007, before he signed a new two-year contract with the option of another year with the club in June. He signed for Sutton United of the Conference South on 2 August 2007 on an initial three-month loan. He made his debut in a 1–0 defeat to Basingstoke Town. He was recalled by Brentford in September 2007, after making seven appearances for Sutton. He made his first appearance for Brentford of 2007–08 in a 2–0 victory over Chester City on 22 September 2007.
Ebbsfleet United
He joined Conference Premier club Ebbsfleet United on 21 March 2008 on loan until the end of the season, having made 18 appearances for Brentford up to that point in 2007–08. Charles made his Ebbsfleet debut the following day as a 78th-minute substitute in a 3–1 defeat to Stevenage Borough. He started in the following match, a 2–1 victory over Cambridge United, and he finished the loan spell with nine appearances. He made one more appearance for Brentford in 2007–08, in a 1–0 away defeat to Stockport County on 3 May 2008, finishing the season with 19 appearances for the club.
Charles re-signed for Ebbsfleet on 21 June after joining on loan for 2008–09. He fouled Simon Brown to concede a penalty kick against Wrexham on 13 September 2008, which was scored by Brown, as Ebbsfleet lost 3–2. He was sent off for a second bookable offence late into a 1–0 defeat to Histon on 6 October 2008. After his Brentford contract was cancelled he moved to Ebbsfleet permanently on 29 January 2009, after the owners of Ebbsfleet, MyFootballClub, ratified a compensation fee of £25,000, making this the first transfer in football history to be decided by a group of members. He finished the season with 44 appearances and was named Ebbsfleet's Player of the Year.