With the right back without an undisputed owner after the end of the Cafu and Daniel Alves eras in the Brazilian team, the young man from Maranhão Wesley França, 22, a standout from Roma, emerges today as Carlo Ancelotti’s main candidate to take over the starting position during the upcoming World Cup in North America.
Fast and with offensive characteristics, the player who rose to prominence at Jorge Sampaoli’s Flamengo brings to the national team the versatility to play in different positions on the field, so appreciated by the national team’s coach.
With the initial idea of choosing Éder Militão discarded after the surgery that the Real Madrid defender was forced to undergo at the end of April, Ancelotti went on to test some names on the right throughout his first year of work at the head of the Brazilian team.
In ten matches under the Italian’s command, since June 2025, six players started as a starter on the right — Vanderson, Wesley, Vitinho, Paulo Henrique, Militão and Ibañez.
Of the sextet, in addition to the Roma player, only defender Ibañez, 27, from Al Ahli, who can be improvised from the side, makes up the list of 26 called up by Ancelotti.
There is also, on the outside of the group, the experienced Danilo, 34, from Flamengo, called up by Tite for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, but hampered in both by injuries. He is currently a reserve at the Rio club, where he has been used more as a defender.
It was Danilo who replaced Wesley at halftime in the game against Tunisia, in the team’s last friendly in 2025, when the willful full-back did not have a good first half — he received a yellow card in the first minutes of the match and also lost the ball in the play that led to the Tunisians’ goal.
Known for demonstrating personality to overcome adverse situations since his Flamengo days, when he was heavily challenged by the red and black fans when he started at the club, he returned to the team’s right flank in the difficult clash against the French team.
He remained on the field for most of the match and was one of Brazil’s positive highlights, responsible for the play that resulted in the expulsion of Bayern Munich defender Upamecano.
Wesley was unable to compete in the next duel, against Croatia, due to a muscle injury in his thigh. He was replaced by Ibañez, who helped the team in marking, but practically did not go beyond midfield.
The full-back was once again linked to a match by Roma’s Italian coach, Gian Piero Gasperini, at the end of April. But not on the right, but on the other side of the field, on the left wing, a position in which he had already been used throughout the season — and which even resulted in his goals in the Italian Championship, against Cremonese, Juventus and Fiorentina.
An admirer of the Brazilian’s football, Gasperini had already tried to sign him when he was in charge of Atalanta — having led the modest Bergamo team to the Europa League title in the 2023/24 season —, but the deal with Flamengo ended up not working out.
Finally announced as a Roman reinforcement in July 2025, the Brazilian made his debut for the traditional team from the Italian capital in August. Initially in his original position on the right flank, where he stood out at Flamengo under Jorge Sampaoli, Tite and Filipe Luís, winning the Campeonato Brasileiro, Libertadores and Copa do Brasil, reaching the Brazilian team for the first time, still under the command of Dorival Júnior.
In the classic against Internazionale Milan, in October, valid for the seventh round of Calcio, due to the lack of options in the squad, Gasperini ended up opting for Wesley’s improvisation as a left winger.
Even with the 1-0 defeat at Olímpico in Rome, the performance of the Maranhão native from Açailândia, especially in the duels against the strong Dutch full-back Denzel Dumfries, pleased the coaching staff so much that the Brazilian started to almost always be played on the left in the Roman formation.
In the Brazilian team’s friendly game against Senegal, Wesley even came on to the left side of the defense, replacing Gabriel Magalhães, who had to leave the field injured.
In a recent interview with Galvão Bueno on SBT, Carlo Ancelotti spoke about the lack of options in a sector in which Brazil has always had an abundance, when he also took the opportunity to mention the Roma full-back as the greatest highlight of the current generation.
“There has never been a lack of full-backs in Brazilian football, the country has always had fantastic players, Cafu, Marcelo… now we have a bit of a shortage. But we have smart players for that position, a young man, Wesley, who is doing very well at Roma”, said Ancelotti.
