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Wilson Palacios
Personal information
Full name	Wilson Roberto Palacios Suazo
Date of birth	29 July 1984 (1984-07-29) (age 25)
Place of birth	La Ceiba, Honduras
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[1]
Playing position	Central midfielder
Club information
Current club	Tottenham Hotspur
Number	12
Youth career
2000–2002	Victoria
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2002–2008 2007–2008 2008–2009 2009–	Olimpia → Birmingham City (loan) Wigan Athletic Tottenham Hotspur	102 (32) 007 0(0) 037 0(0) 020 0(1)
National team2
2003–	Honduras	066 0(4)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:59, 17 October 2009 (UTC+1). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 15:20, 11 October 2009 (UTC+1). * Appearances (Goals)

Wilson Roberto Palacios Suazo^[2] (born 29 July 1984) is a Honduran footballer who plays for English Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. He played as a central midfielder for previous club Wigan Athletic, but at Olimpia he played regularly on the right of midfield.

[edit] Club career

[edit] Victoria

Palacios, along with his brothers (Milton, Jerry, Johnny and Edwin), started his career as a footballer with Club Deportivo Victoria, from which all five players were later transferred to Olimpia.

[edit] Olimpia

He made 102 appearances and scored 32 goals for Olimpia. He became one of the idols on the team and quickly started to attract international attention after winning five league titles with Olimpia in the 2002-03 Apertura tournament, as well as the 2003-04 Clausura, 2004-05 Clasura, 2005-06 Apertura and the 2005-06 Clausura tournaments. He is especially remembered for scoring a goal from the half-way line against Marathón in the final minutes of a game in 2006 to win the 2005-2006 Clausura tournament and become champions of Honduras.^[3]

After having a very successful career in Honduras Palacios looked to achieve greatness in the European leagues. On 14 July 2007 Palacios announced that he would travel to Serbia to go on trial with Red Star Belgrade for a period of one to two months.^[4] He only stayed for about a month and despite impressing during his stay, he did not join the club due to economic reasons. The club refused to pay the cost that Olimpia demanded. After his trial in Serbia, he traveled to France to try his luck with Monaco. However, due to unknown reasons, he did not sign a contract and returned to Honduras.^[5]

Then, reports in the Honduran press stated that Palacios had gone missing during August 2007, until his father stated that he was actually in London having a trial period with Premier League club Arsenal.^[6]

[edit] Birmingham City

On 24 August 2007 Birmingham City announced that after a recommendation from Arsène Wenger they were offering Palacios a trial with a view to a six month loan, which was agreed on 31 August 2007.^[7] He made his debut for Birmingham against Liverpool at Anfield in a 0–0 draw on 22 September.^[8] In October 2007 manager Steve Bruce, who likened Palacios to a young Paul Ince, said that Birmingham intended to make his loan a permanent transfer.^[9] but the player's absence following his brother's kidnap meant that new manager Alex McLeish had not seen enough of him to sign him permanently.^[10]

[edit] Wigan Athletic

On 11 January 2008, Palacios re-joined Bruce at Wigan Athletic for an undisclosed fee,^[11] and made his debut the following day against Derby County. ^[12] He became an important piece in Steve Bruce's scheme and was linked to the likes of big clubs like Manchester United, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, and Real Madrid.^[13][14][15] Then on 16 January 2009 Steve Bruce declared that the deal with Tottenham Hotspur for Palacios was "virtually agreed". However, he bemoaned the loss of his "right arm" and declared he didn't want to lose "one of [his] best players" after he has become "one of the best midfield players in the country".^[16] However, despite Bruce's attempts to keep him at the JJB Stadium, the deal was confirmed five days later.

[edit] Tottenham Hotspur

Despite having reservations about moving to North London from North West England where he was settled, Palacios agreed personal terms on a five-and-a-half year contract with Tottenham Hotspur, committing his future to the club until 2014. On January 21, 2009, the club announced to the London Stock Exchange that they had agreed a fee of £12 million for Palacios and that the player had agreed personal terms and passed his medical,^[17] but that the transfer could only be completed once he received a work permit.^[18] He made his Tottenham debut in a 3–2 defeat to Bolton Wanderers on 31 January, and assisted with the second goal after Bolton goalkeeper Jussi Jääskeläinen stopped Palacios' low shot and teammate Darren Bent put in the rebound.^[19][20] His battling performance in his second match, against local rivals Arsenal, earned him the man of the match award.^[21] Since then he has had some excellent performances in the Spurs midfield. Palacios scored his first goal in English Football against Hull City on 19 August, 2009 after a through ball by Robbie Keane. After scoring, Palacios pointed towards the heavens in honor of his brother, Edwin Palacios, whose body had been found earlier in the year after being murdered.^[22]

[edit] Honours

Tottenham Hotspur

• Barclays Asia Trophy: 2009

[edit] International career

Wilson Palacios wears the number 8 jersey with the Honduran national football team. He has played 63 matches with Honduras where he has converted 4 goals since 2003. He is also one of the most well-known Honduran international players alongside David Suazo.

[edit] International goals

Wilson Palacios: International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
3	4 June 2008	Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras	Puerto Rico	2–0	4–0	2010 World Cup qualifiers
4	14 June 2008	Estadio Juan Ramon Loubriel, Bayamon, Puerto Rico	Puerto Rico	2–2	2–2	2010 World Cup qualifiers

[edit] Personal life

He is the brother of Milton Palacios, Jerry Palacios, Johnny Palacios and Edwin Rene Palacios. On 30 October 2007, his 16-year-old brother (at the time) Edwin was kidnapped by five armed men from the family home in La Ceiba.^[23][24] In November 2007, the family paid a £125,000 ransom and it was reported that the boy had been released, but this proved not to be the case.^[25][26]

In January 2009, Palacios' mother made a televised appeal for the kidnappers to open communication with the family, expressing her need to find out if Edwin was still alive, her fears that Palacios' big-money transfer to Tottenham would only strengthen the kidnappers' demands, and a request for help from the British authorities. She stressed that Palacios' team received the transfer fee but the player has only his salary, and that the family's situation is distressing for him.^[24][27]

On 8 May 2009 it was announced that, following a confession from two leaders of the 18th Street gang, police had found a body in the municipality of El Paraíso which they believed to be the remains of Edwin.^[28] Palacios returned home to Honduras the following day on compassionate leave.^[29]

On 28 May 2009, the DNA results on his brother's remains came back positive. They buried him the following day in La Ceiba, Honduras. On 30 May 2009, despite his loss, he joined the Honduran National Team to train in preparation for the World Cup Qualifying games against the U.S.A and El Salvador.

[edit] Honours

[edit] Club

[edit] Club Deportivo Olimpia

• 2002-03 Apertura
• 2003-04 Clausura
• 2004-05 Clausura
• 2005-06 Apertura
• 2005-06 Clausura

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Wilson Palacios FIFA competition record
• Wilson Palacios career stats at Soccerbase
• Profile at the Tottenham Hotspur website

v • d • e Honduras squad – 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup 1 Coello • 2 Henríquez • 3 Figueroa • 4 Caballero • 5  • 6 Izaguirre • 7 E. Núñez • 8 Palacios • 9 Ramírez • 10 Velásquez • 11 M. Núñez • 13 Berríos • 14 García • 16 Vega • 18 Morán • 19 Turcios • 20 Thomas • 21 Vallecillo • 22 Morales • 23 Guerrero • 24 Guifarro • 25 Garden • Coach: Herrera

v • d • e Honduras squad – 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup 1 Puerto • 2  • 3 Figueroa • 4 Caballero • 5 E. Vallecillo • 6 Mendoza • 7 E. Martínez • 8 Palacios • 9 Pavón • 10 de León • 11 J. Martínez • 12 O. Vallecillo • 13 Costly • 14 García • 15 W. Martínez • 16 Oliva • 17 Alvarez • 18 Claros • 19 Rodríguez • 20 Guevara • 21 Izaguirre • 22 Morales • 23 Guerrero • 24 Santamaría • Coach: Rueda