Wenderson Rodrigues do Nascimento Galeno (born 21 October 1997), commonly known as Galeno or Wenderson Galeno, is a Brazilian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

left winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Portuguese club

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portu ...

. He spent most of his career in Portugal, playing over 100

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

games in two spells at

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

and for

Braga Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...

, as well as loans at

Portimonense Portimonense Sporting Clube is a Portuguese sports club based in Portimão. Founded on 14 August 1914, it is most notable for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. It al ...

and

Rio Ave Rio Ave Futebol Clube, commonly known as Rio Ave (), is a Football in Portugal, Portuguese professional Association football, football club based in Vila do Conde, that competes in the Primeira Liga. The club is named after the Ave River, which ...

Club career

Early career

Born in

Barra do Corda Barra do Corda () is a municipality in the state of Maranhão in the Northeast region of Brazil. Climate Higher Education * Logos Institute of Theology (''Instituto Logos de Teologia'') See also *List of municipalities in Maranhão Th ...

Maranhão Maranhão () is a state in Brazil. Located in the country's Northeast Region, it has a population of about 7 million and an area of . Clockwise from north, it borders on the Atlantic Ocean for 2,243 km and the states of Piauí, Tocantins and ...

, Galeno joined Trindade's youth setup in 2014. He made his senior debut for the club on 10 February 2016, playing the last 29 minutes and scoring a brace in a 3–0 away defeat of Atlética Anapolina for the

Campeonato Goiano The Campeonato Goiano is the football league of the state of Goiás, Brazil. Format First Division First stage *Teams are divided in two groups of six teams. *Double round-robin, in which all teams home-and-away games against the team fro ...

championship. Galeno finished the 2016 Campeonato Goiano with five goals in ten appearances, being named the Best Newcomer of the competition. In April 2016, he signed a contract with Grêmio Anápolis.

Porto

On 28 June 2016, Galeno moved abroad and joined

on a one-year loan deal, being initially assigned to

the B-team The B-Team was a professional wrestling tag team in WWE, composed of Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel. The team are former one-time WWE Raw Tag Team Champions. They also formerly performed as The Social Outcasts and The Miztourage from 2016 to 2018 ...

in Segunda Liga. He made his professional debut on 7 August, starting in 2–1 away loss against

C.D. Aves Clube Desportivo das Aves (), commonly known as Desportivo das Aves, or simply as Aves, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Vila das Aves, Santo Tirso. The club was founded on 12 November 1930 and plays at the Estádio do Clube ...

. Galeno scored his first goal abroad on 20 August 2016, netting the winner in a 2–1 away success over neighbours

Leixões The Port of Leixões ( pt, Porto de Leixões, ) is one of Portugal's major seaports, located 4 km north of the mouth of the Douro River, in Matosinhos municipality, near the city of Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city i ...

. The following 16 May, after scoring 11 goals for the B's, he was bought outright by the Dragons, signing a five-year deal with a

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

40 million release clause. Galeno made his first team – and

– debut for Porto on 21 October 2017, coming on as a late substitute for

Moussa Marega Moussa Marega (born 14 April 1991) is a professional footballer who plays as a second striker for Saudi Professional League club Al Hilal. Born in France, he represents the Mali national team. He began his career in France, playing no higher ...

in a 6–1 home routing of

Paços de Ferreira Paços de Ferreira () is a city in the Porto District, in the north of Portugal. The population of the city in 2011 was 7491, while its municipality had 56,340 inhabitants, in an area of 70.99 km². Sometimes referred to as the ''Capital do ...

. Three days later he made his first start in the group stage of the

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual football club competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the Primeira Liga and LigaPro, the top two tier ...

, a goalless draw with Leixões also at the

Estádio do Dragão The Estádio do Dragão (; English: Dragon Stadium) is an all-seater football stadium in Porto, Portugal, and the home ground of FC Porto since 2003. It has a seating capacity of 50,033, making it the third largest football stadium in Portugal ...

. On 23 January 2018, Galeno was presented at fellow top tier side

, on loan until June. He returned to Porto in July, after contributing with seven appearances, only one start. Galeno was loaned to another club in the main category on 11 July 2018,

, for the entire upcoming season. He made his European debut 15 days later away to

Jagiellonia Białystok Jagiellonia Białystok () is a Polish football club based in Białystok that plays in the Ekstraklasa, the top level of Polish football. The club was founded in 1920 by soldiers in the Reserve Battalion in Białystok. Jagiellonia play their home g ...

in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

second qualifying round, and on 2 August scored twice in the first half of the second leg, a 4–4 home draw that saw his team eliminated. Galeno was a regular starter for the

Vila do Conde Vila do Conde (, ; "the Count's Town") is a municipality in the Norte Region of Portugal. The population in 2011 was 79,533, in an area of 149.03 km². The urbanized area of Vila do Conde, which includes the parishes of Vila do Conde, Azurar ...

side during the year, scoring eight goals in 35 appearances overall. His first goal in the top flight came on 26 August, opening a 1–1 draw at

Tondela Tondela () is a municipality in the central Portuguese subregion of Dão-Lafões. The population in 2011 was 28,946, in an area of 371.22 km². History Local writer and intellectual Amadeu Ferraz de Carvalho (1876–1951) wrote of the munic ...

on the third matchday.

Braga

On 6 August 2019, Galeno joined

on a five-year deal. The transfer fee was €3.5 million to be paid in instalments, plus

value-added tax A value-added tax (VAT), known in some countries as a goods and services tax (GST), is a type of tax that is assessed incrementally. It is levied on the price of a product or service at each stage of production, distribution, or sale to the end ...

to take the fee to €4.3 million; the

buyout clause A buyout clause or release clause refers to a clause in a contract that imposes an obligation on another organisation wishing to acquire the services of the employee under contract to pay the (usually substantial) fee of the clause to the organisati ...

of €15 million meant that Porto retained 50% of his economic rights. Galeno scored his first goal in the third game of the league season, opening the score after six minutes in a 1–1 draw at

Gil Vicente Gil Vicente (; c. 1465c. 1536), called the Trobadour, was a Portuguese playwright and poet who acted in and directed his own plays. Considered the chief dramatist of Portugal he is sometimes called the "Portuguese Plautus," often refe ...

on 25 August 2019. On 3 November, he scored twice in as many minutes in a home game against neighbours Famalicão in a 2–2 draw. He played four games without scoring in the

2019–20 Taça da Liga The 2019–20 Taça da Liga was the thirteenth edition of the Taça da Liga (also known as Allianz Cup for sponsorship reasons), a football league cup competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional and contested exclusively ...

, including the 1–0 final win over

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

on 25 January. On 25 June 2020, he settled a 3–2 derby win over

Vitória de Guimarães Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória ...

at the

Estádio Municipal de Braga The Municipal Stadium of Braga ( pt, Estádio Municipal de Braga) is an all-seater football stadium located in Braga, Portugal, and the current home of Sporting Clube de Braga. It has a capacity of 30,286 spectators, making it the seventh larges ...

. On 23 May 2021, Galeno was named the man of the match after Braga defeated Benfica 2–0 in the

2021 Taça de Portugal Final The 2021 Taça de Portugal Final was the last match of the 2020–21 Taça de Portugal, which decided the winner of the 81st edition of the Taça de Portugal, the premier knockout competition in Portuguese football. It was played on 23 May 2021 at ...

, to claim the cup competition for the third time in club history. Galeno scored six goals in as many Europa League group games for Braga in 2021–22; this included two on 30 September in a 3–1 home win over Denmark's

Midtjylland The Central Denmark Region ( da, Region Midtjylland), or more directly translated as the Central Jutland Region and sometimes simply Mid Jutland, is an administrative region of Denmark established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish muni ...

. In his final game on 22 January 2022, he scored a

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

to equalise in a 2–1 win at reigning champions Sporting.

Return to Porto

On 31 January 2022, Porto reached an agreement to purchase Galeno for €9 million from Braga, on a contract until the summer of 2026. The buyout clause was €50 million. His first goal for the club came on 13 March in a 4–0 home win over Tondela, three minutes after coming on for Vitinha.

Personal life

In March 2022, Galeno was

naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the i ...

as a Portuguese citizen after five years of residence in the country.

Career statistics

''As of match played 4 June 2023''

Honours

Braga *

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 seaso ...

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

: 2019–20 Porto *

: 2017–18, 2021–22 *Taça de Portugal: 2021–22,

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese football match played since 1979 between the winners of the Portuguese League (Primeira Liga) and Portuguese ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Individual *

Best Newcomer:

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

LigaPro The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal 2 SABSEG for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier Prim ...

Player of the Month: September 2017 *

: Man of the Match

References

External links

Profile
at the FC Porto website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Galeno 1997 births Living people Footballers from Maranhão Men's association football forwards Brazilian men's footballers Trindade Atlético Clube players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players FC Porto B players FC Porto players Portimonense S.C. players Rio Ave F.C. players S.C. Braga players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Naturalised citizens of Portugal Portuguese people of Brazilian descent