Wendel Santos

A midfielder who favours the defensive side of the game, Wendel Santana Pereira Santos is a professional football player from Brazil. Wendel was noticed, for the first time, by the scouts when he was playing for the Esporte Clube Vitoria youth team in 1999. He moved to Vitoria after spending the early part of the season at Joseense-SP. In 2000, Wendel got his big break, signing up with Uniao Mogi for his first season ever. In 2001, he moved to Iraty Sport Club and stayed for two seasons.

In his second season with the team, he was part of the Sao Paulo State Championship winning squad although Wendel never really saw any form of action in any of the games. He moved to Clube Atletico Juventus, in 2002 before making his mark to gain a transfer to Palmeiras at the end of the 2003 season.

After slowly making his way into the first team at Palmeiras, Wendel became a regular in the team. He was starting games regularly before his form started giving way. In 2008, Wendel went on his first loan move, to Santos, where he started 22 games. He returned at the end of the season, but in 2010, was sent out to Esporte Clube Goias for 7 appearances. In 2011, he was sent out on his third loan spell in four years, to Atletico Paranaense.

Wendel has yet to make a start in his latest loan spell but has notched up 150 appearances for this main club, Palmeiras, during his 8 seasons with the team.