Will Alves

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.

Club career

Alves joined Leicester City at under-9s level and progressed through the Academy before making his senior debut at age 16. 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.

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. 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".

Alves returned to the U21 team on 3 November 2023, scoring in a 2–2 draw against Newcastle that was later abandoned. 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.

In August 2024, Alves signed a new four-year contract for the club. Alves made his Premier League debut as a substitute in the 2–0 defeat to Manchester City on 29 December 2024.

On 3 February 2025, Alves moved to Championship side Cardiff City on loan for the rest of the season. He made his club debut for Cardiff 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. He made his league debut on 11 February in a 2–1 defeat to Portsmouth. He scored his first goal in a 2–2 draw with Preston North End on 8 April.

International career

Born in England, Alves is of Portuguese descent. In February 2022 he represented the England under-17 team against Scotland.

On 21 September 2022, Alves made his England U18 debut as a substitute during a 1–0 win over Netherlands at the Pinatar Arena.

On 7 June 2024, Alves made a goalscoring debut for the England U20s during a 2-1 win over Sweden at Stadion ŠRC Sesvete.

Personal life

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.