In an interview with Sky Sports, Wesley Moraes revealed the difficulties he went through to become a professional football player and how being a young father inspired him.

Wesley went through a rollercoaster of emotions during his childhood, with his father passing away to a brain tumour when he was just nine years of age. 

"When my father died, it was difficult because my mum was alone with me and my brothers but she worked and now today I do everything for her."

Becoming a teenage parent wasn't easy and by 16, he had fathered two children to two different women so his past experiences have incentivized him to succeed in football. 

"I had my first son when I was 14. It was extremely difficult because it was at that time I had begun to try getting into playing football professionally. I'd go to work during the day and then to training at night," he began to explain.

To play football and be a father when he was still a teenager was demanding but Villa's player started to take the sport more seriously when he had his second born. 

"I was 14 when I had my first child and 16 when I had my second. When I had them, I told and promised myself that I would do everything in my power to become a professional footballer.

"When I play, I have to think about my family, my children, my mother, everybody.

"When I finish training, I call my mum because she is everything. My mum did everything to help me play so every day when I come home, I call her."

Aston Villa's youngster still trained at Atletico Madrid during six-months but it did not go as expected and consequently, he went back to his home country, Brazil.

"I had to do something. I had to earn money for my children. Every team I went to told me no. I went to six clubs before I went to Slovakia.

"When I went to the sixth team, I thought I didn't want to play football anymore. I thought it was finished for me. Then I got a chance."

After playing in Slovakia, Moraes spent six-years at Club Brugge before moving to Aston Villa in a club-record signing of £22m this past summer. 

The Villa man has scored four goals in eight Premier League appearances.

"I am very happy playing in the Premier League, in the biggest competition in the world."

Reminiscing back to the past, he now smiles when he recalls the hard times he encountered as a child.

"Every day, I think about the past - what I was thinking when teams were saying no to me - so I'm very happy now that I have this job."

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