External links
- Will Alves at Soccerbase
Cardiff City F.C. – current squad | |
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | William Thomas Alves [1] | ||
| Date of birth | 4 May 2005 [2] | ||
| Place of birth | Leicester, England | ||
| Height | 1.69 m (5 ft 7 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Left winger | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Cardiff City (on loan from Leicester City) | ||
| Number | 29 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| –2022 | Leicester City | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2022– | Leicester City | 1 | (0) |
| 2025– | → Cardiff City (loan) | 3 | (0) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2022 | England U17 | 4 | (0) |
| 2022– | England U18 | 3 | (0) |
| 2024 | England U20 | 3 | (1) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 22 February 2025 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 08:31, 27 September 2024 (UTC) | |||
William Thomas Alves (born 4 May 2005) is an English professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for EFL Championship club Cardiff City, on loan from Leicester City.
Alves joined Leicester City at under-9s level and progressed through the Academy before making his senior debut at age 16. [3] On 8 January 2022, Alves made his professional club debut for Leicester as an 86th minute substitute for Ademola Lookman during a 4–1 win against Watford in the third round of the FA Cup. [4]
On 21 December 2022, Alves suffered a torn ACL in the second half of extra time in a 3–1 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Youth Cup. [5] The injury was caused by a foul from Caden Voice and caused a public outcry. Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers called the challenge "one of the worst I have seen". [6] [7]
Alves returned to the U21 team on 3 November 2023, scoring in a 2–2 draw against Newcastle that was later abandoned. [8] He followed this by playing the first half in a EFL Trophy match against Fleetwood Town that finished in a 4–0 defeat on 7 November. [9]
In August 2024, Alves signed a new four-year contract for the club. [10] Alves made his Premier League debut as a substitute in the 2–0 defeat to Manchester City on 29 December 2024. [11]
On 3 February 2025, it was announced that Alves had moved on loan to Championship side Cardiff City for the rest of the season. [12] He made his debut on 8 February in a FA Cup match against Stoke City. The match was 3–3 before going to penalties, which Cardiff won 4–2. [13] He made his league debut on 11 February in a 2–1 defeat to Portsmouth. [14]
Born in England, Alves is of Portuguese descent. [15] In February 2022 he represented the England under-17 team against Scotland. [16]
On 21 September 2022, Alves made his England U18 debut as a substitute during a 1–0 win over Netherlands at the Pinatar Arena. [17]
On 7 June 2024, Alves made a goalscoring debut for the England U20s during a 2-1 win over Sweden at Stadion ŠRC Sesvete. [18]
In 2018, while he was a Year 9 pupil at Brookvale Groby Learning Campus, Alves won the MOTD "Can You Kick It" competition to find the UK's best young technical freestyle footballer. [19]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | EFL Cup | Europe | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Leicester City U21 | 2021–22 [20] | — | — | — | — | 3 [a] | 0 | 3 | 0 | |||||
| 2022–23 [21] | — | — | — | — | 3 [a] | 1 | 3 | 1 | ||||||
| 2023–24 [22] | — | — | — | — | 1 [a] | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||||
| Total | — | — | — | — | 7 | 1 | 7 | 1 | ||||||
| Leicester City | 2021–22 [20] | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2022–23 [21] | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 1 | 0 | |||
| 2023–24 [22] | Championship | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 0 | |||
| 2024–25 [23] | Premier League | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 3 | 0 | |||
| Total | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | ||
| Cardiff City (loan) | 2024–25 [23] | Championship | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 2 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 14 | 1 | ||