From a young age, he was touted as having the potential to become one of the most talented footballers in Colombia, but no one could imagine how fast his move to Europe would come.
After barely a year as a professional, and with only 26 professional appearances to his name, Atletico Nacional’s Yerson Mosquera fulfilled his dream earlier than most expected. In June, he signed a five-year contract with Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers. The fee? €5.2M, the third-highest transfer fee Los Verdolagas have ever received. Since he’s seen as a hot prospect, he’ll receive a work permit, and will now try to follow in the footsteps of his compatriots, Davinson Sanchez and Yerry Mina.
📩 A message for the Wolves fans 🗣
— Wolves (@Wolves) June 25, 2021
It's time to hear from Yerson Mosquera! 🇨🇴
🎙 @verockstar pic.twitter.com/ek4C2F73MD
The centre back was born in Apartado, a town in the Antioquia department, on May 2nd 2001. He’s 1.88m tall, and has eight brothers and sisters. Football runs in this family’s blood. Several of Mosquera’s siblings play the sport, and two of his uncles, Elkin Murillo Amor and John Jairo Murillo, were also footballers.
Elkin was the famous one. He played for clubs like Deportivo Cali, Independiente Medellin, Atletico Nacional, and Liga de Quito, and played in the 2001 Copa America - held in Colombia, and one in which Los Cafeteros finished as champions. But both his uncles were on hand to help him take his first steps in football.
Mosquera started off at the Elkin Murillo Amor foundation, and later John Jairo’s Nayo Murillo foundation, Uraba Junior, and Filanda Football Club, which also belongs to Murillo. It was at Filanda where, during a tournament, he caught the eye of Camilo Perez, a scout for Atletico Nacional.
Joining Nacional in 2018, he twice helped his side to win Antioquia’s youth championship, as well as the Primera A tournament. By this point the senior side had taken note. Then coach Juan Carlos Osorio invited him to practice with the first team, but it wasn’t easy to take the next step up. Despite his strong skill set and character, it wasn't easy for Mosquera to adapt to the senior squad. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic wasn’t helpful either, it took a lot of practice to return to the league after a six month break.
"It has been a very difficult process. I have managed to learn a lot, I have gained a lot of experience from all the competitions that we have here", he said.
A call up to the Colombia U20 national team was on the cards too. He was supposed to play in the 2021 U20 South American Youth Football Championship, until that was cancelled due to the pandemic.
In the meantime he managed to play 26 matches for Atletico Nacional, including eight in the Copa Libertadores, scoring one goal and becoming an integral part of the starting lineup.
He’s athletic and extremely fast. Whilst he can look a little weak or clumsy at times, he excels when carrying out his defensive duties, and is one of the league’s leaders in winning aerial battles, defensive battles, and tackling. Mosquera always works hard, showing an excellent robust character. Whilst being predominantly right footed, he is decent at controlling the ball with his left and, similarly, his technique and ball control skills are solid, likely from his time playing as a winger and midfielder as a child. But he is still young, and lacks experience and a good first touch.
Teammates will testify that Mosquera is shy, but is someone who loves to laugh, smile, sing and dance. "My goal celebrations are usually all kinds of dances. I love it", he says. Friends have given him the nickname ‘Yerry’, the way they refer to Yerry Mina, but as a player, he admires Davinson Sanchez, because of his style of play and character.
Mosquera said previously that he would “like to succeed [at] Nacional and then to go and fulfil my dream and play in Europe", but no one imagined that he would leave the club so soon.
Now he has a new challenge. Wolves’ first signing under new head coach Bruno Lage wants to justify the gamble taken on him. But he wants, and can, do it. He has talent, and has worked hard to get where he is today.
Now he’ll hope for the opportunity to show what he is really capable of, fulfilling his true potential on a bigger stage. And Mosquera impressed in pre-season, before an unfortunate injury. He’s still not fully fit, and waiting for an official debut, but after Wolves lost three of their first four games, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him make an appearance at the Mollineux sometime soon.
Photo by Wolverhampton Wanderers official Facebook.
🎉 Celebrating the move with his family
— Wolves (@Wolves) June 26, 2021
🧀 Packing Colombian cheese
🇨🇴 Speaking to @PremierLeague stars
Every word from Yerson Mosquera's first interview as a Wolves player.
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