The 14-year old Guilherme Ruck, known as Gui Ruck, has a lot of stories to tell. He left Brazil in 2017 to try to pursue a football career and things are going his way. He is now a player of Ronaldo Nazário’s Real Valladolid in Spain and also spent some time playing in Portugal.
Gui Ruck had his first opportunity in football at the age of eight, in Vitória de Guimarães, through the help of midfielder Davidson, an athlete who today defends Wuhan Tree Towns, from China. After a successful time with the team, he got the opportunity to play for Braga and scored 87 goals in four months.
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Ruck, however, could only play friendlies because of his lack of documentation. His impressive marks had other clubs interested in him, such as Porto, Benfica and Sporting. He opted to join Porto. Unfortunately, the experience with the team was bad: there was a high competition between Portuguese and Brazilian players, involving rather xenophobic acts towards the South Americans, says his father, Alessandro.
“It was difficult due to the age we arrived at the club. Everything new and different people. When you start to stand out more than them, they start to do some attitudes that affected Gui at that time, but he managed to overcome it and we were able to surpass the problem,” he tells Sambafoot.
Ruck and his family left Portugal after this experience, traveling to Spain, where Atlético Madrid offered him an opportunity at their affiliate Rayo Majadahonda, in 2019. He changed clubs again in 2022, when he joined Real Valladolid.
“Training at Real Valladolid is a dream. First, because the owner of the club is one of the biggest references in world football. What the institution offers us, in terms of structure and training, is something incredible. Much superior to the reality of Brazil,” says Alessandro.
“We haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Ronaldo yet, but I know he knows about my project. We have already received invitations to attend his box at Valladolid games. We went, but unfortunately he was not present. Seeing the recognition that Gui has been having within the club and the growth that he is, we know that this meeting will happen.”
Gui now looks forward to his future in football. His main objective is to be called for the Brazilian National U-15 team next year.
