Leicester City has always been considered a club with family values, with staff still on the payroll after decades of service, sharing the good times and the bad.
And for winger Wanya Marcal, 20, who scored his first goal for the club in the 2-0 home win over Cardiff City last Saturday, it is certainly a club with family ties.
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Marcal is the oldest of four brothers, who have all been on the books at the club. Younger stepbrother Giovanni Loureiro was the first, and has since moved on to Bolton Wanderers, but his other stepbrother, Cheyenne Loureiro, is still at the club, playing with the under-18s. His youngest brother, Luegi, has just joined the club’s academy as well, aged nine.
Stepfather Jose Loureiro and mother Ivone Marcal even relocated from their first English home, in Peterborough, to Leicester to support their boys as they attempted to fulfil their football dreams.
Those dreams have started to come true for Wanya Marcal. He made his debut as a substitute under Brendan Rodgers in the FA Cup win over Watford in January 2022, but has needed to wait until this season to make another breakthrough under new manager Enzo Maresca, starting the last three games on the right wing.
His strike against Cardiff was superb, which was reason enough to celebrate, but his joy also stemmed from the culmination of eight years of work in the academy.
First Foxes strike, and what a hit from Wanya! ⚡ pic.twitter.com/U8b8wAgskN
— Leicester City (@LCFC) August 19, 2023
He initially ran towards the home fans before veering off to the West Stand where the players’ loved ones sat. In that stand, feeling equally stunned, were Jose and Ivone.
“Wanya’s goal was so fast and I didn’t expect it,” Jose tells The Athletic. “At that second, I didn’t realise what was happening, but when I saw him running and celebrating, I just shouted, ‘Wanya!’, and I hugged Ivone. But before, we looked to each other and we could not believe it… ‘What?’. Then we started to jump up and down.
“He told me, ‘I didn’t know if I should celebrate that way, but I was so overwhelmed that I didn’t know what to do, how to celebrate’.”
It was a moment that rewarded not only Marcal’s hard work and dedication as he rose through the ranks, but also the commitment of his parents, who had not just given up all their spare time for one aspiring youngster, but four.
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Initially, while Giovanni was playing at Leicester, the family were in the Werrington area of Peterborough and Jose had to take them all to training.
“It was very hard,” Jose recalls. “When Wanya and Chey were playing for Peterborough I had to drop them at school, pick them up after work and then drop them at training.
“I then had to rush to Leicester to drop off Gio and then wait for him to finish before picking up Wanya and Chey at Peterborough and come back. Every day. No Saturdays or Sundays to rest. Very hard, but worth it.
“It is important to have support if you are to succeed in sports these days because the competition is so hard and there are a lot of people fighting to be in the same position.”
Marcal wheels away in delight after scoring against Cardiff (Stephen White – CameraSport via Getty Images)That long road for Wanya, who has played for Portugal Under-20s, began when Jose met Ivone in Portugal and they joined him in England, where Jose had initially studied for a master’s degree in computer configuring and forensics before doing a business administration MBA at Cambridge.
The family settled in Peterborough where the boys would play on a daily basis in a local park because their garden wasn’t big enough.
“Everyone knew us because we would be there every day when I wasn’t working,” Jose says. “It was religious, ‘Let’s go, let’s go’. They all loved football.”
In fact, the technique in Marcal’s finish against Cardiff was a familiar sight for Jose.
“They used to train together a lot when they were young and one of the skills they tried a lot was the volley,” Jose says. “One would throw and the other would volley it back. The hours of practice certainly paid off!”
Wanya’s ability soon began to be noticed and he joined Feeder Soccer, a grassroots club in Peterborough.
Aged 10, he was picked up by Peterborough, where he was joined by Cheyenne, while Giovanni was at Leicester from the age of six. The brothers eventually joined him, with Wanya signing eight years ago.
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“Leicester City is very important because the academy has been growing and they have amazing coaches there,” says Jose. “Ben Petty (Under-21s head coach) has been amazing for Wanya, and Leon McSweeney, the assistant. We have a lot to thank them for.
“They did everything they could to help Wanya. They were very nice to him.”
It was Petty and McSweeney who prepared Marcal for his big moment: his debut at the age of 19. He had been on the bench before, in the group stage of the Europa League against Spartak Moscow and Sparta Prague, and the home leg of the Europa Conference League quarter-final against PSV Eindhoven.
He thought he would be an unused substitute again when he was included in the FA Cup squad to take on Watford at the King Power Stadium in January 2022. However, he got a welcome surprise at half-time when he replaced Vontae Daley-Campbell.
“He couldn’t believe it was happening, especially at his age,” Jose says. “I could not believe it. He was just smiling and laughing and saying he couldn’t believe he had played for the first team.
“It was a very good experience for him. It helped him know what the players say, what the coach says, what the environment is like and the feel of the crowd.”
Under Maresca, Marcal has been given even more opportunities. With Stephy Mavididi the only incoming transfer in the wide areas following the departures of Harvey Barnes, Ayoze Perez, James Maddison and Tete, Marcal has been given the chance to team up with compatriot Ricardo Pereira, who has taken the brothers under his wing.
“The coach seems to like Wanya,” Jose says. “He doesn’t speak much directly with the players but you can understand the message. He can feel the coach likes him and that gives him confidence.
“He feels very comfortable in Maresca’s system. With more games, Wanya can show what he has got.”
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Marcal, who still lives in the family home with his brothers, is one of 10 first-team players in the last year of their contracts, but he is hoping he can impress Maresca enough to be offered a new deal.
“He wants to succeed at Leicester,” adds Jose. “He just hopes he and the club can commit to one another for the next few years and be successful.
“He is keen on signing a new contract. He feels the coach likes him and the group like him, and you can see how they celebrated with him.
“He is a very humble, sweet boy and I feel the boys love him.”
(Top photo: Stephen White – CameraSport via Getty Images)
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