Jeremy Sarmiento almost gave up on football last year after being banished from Benfica's academy... now the Brighton winger is set for a spot on the biggest stage of them all as he prepares for the showpiece World Cup opener with Ecuador
- Jeremy Sarmiento was close to giving up on football after his ordeal at Benfica
- As a teenager, he was banished from the club for refusing to sign a new contract
- With thanks to his father, he knuckled down and signed a deal with Brighton
- Now the former England youth international could star in the World Cup opener
- Click here for the latest World Cup 2022 news, fixtures, live action and results
Training sessions with your dad in the park and solo gym visits at night hardly sounds like a winning routine for a player with World Cup ambitions. Last year, Jeremy Sarmiento had no other choice.
Banished from the academy premises by Benfica after informing the Portuguese giants that he would not be staying on with them, he found himself grafting alone and on the verge of giving up on football.
‘I wasn’t really happy there in my last year so I told them I wasn’t going to renew my contract,’ Sarmiento tells Sportsmail.
![Brighton winger Jeremy Sarmiento is set to represent Ecuador at the World Cup this winter](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/11/19/16/64723859-11386255-image-a-1_1668874418378.jpg)
Brighton winger Jeremy Sarmiento is set to represent Ecuador at the World Cup this winter
‘They took it the wrong way. They said I wasn’t allowed to train, come to the ground, do anything at all. That was my hardest year.
‘It really made me think about everything. Whether I wanted to keep on doing this. Because there was time where I just wanted to give up.’
Instead he persevered, and joined Brighton in the summer of 2021. Tomorrow, the winger will be part of the Ecuador team that face the hosts in the opening game of Qatar 2022. Sarmiento knows who he has to thank for the incredible transformation.
‘My dad was the one that made me get through it,’ he admits. ‘It’s paid off, all the hard work.’
In truth Sarmiento’s father, Leonel, has always had a guiding hand on his career. It was his search for work in Europe that saw his son born in Madrid in 2002, and then move to London at the age of seven along with his mother Katty.
![Sarmiento joined Brighton after he banished from the academy premises by Benfica](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/11/03/15/64154773-11386255-image-a-18_1667490810388.jpg)
Sarmiento joined Brighton after he banished from the academy premises by Benfica
A planned moved back to South America was put on ice when Sarmiento’s ability became apparent to those at Charlton Athletic’ academy, those skills honed by hours of football inside the cages of south London - his escape from the realities of his surroundings.
‘I lived in Peckham. Some of the stuff that was going on at the time, stabbings and everything, it was kind of hard,’ he says. ‘All I wanted to do was to play football and I think that helped me a lot.
‘There were two roots. I had friends that used to do drug dealing, that kind of stuff. It could have ended up both ways. I’m grateful it went the other way.
![Sarmiento was also a youth product of League One side Charlton](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/11/03/15/64155221-11386255-image-m-16_1667490780539.jpg)
Sarmiento was also a youth product of League One side Charlton
‘I used to get thrown around every time! But it really matured me, quick. Because I was always surrounding myself with older people.
‘I used to go school in Camberwell and there was a cage near it. I’d just go and play their every time. At 1am, 2am I’d go back home.
‘My mum would come looking for me. It was crazy. I’d come home and I already I was going to get treated some sort of way, like they wouldn’t let me out next time. But I always found a way.’
Charlton were not the only ones taken by his talents. Sarmiento’s progress caught the eye of England scouts. He was invited along to represent his adopted nation – a chance he jumped at.
‘It was special,’ he says. ‘I didn’t see myself as an English person but obviously because I live in England and I played for an English club it really meant something to me.
‘England is a big country when it comes to football. I was really happy and pleased. It was an honour to represent them. You’ll get players from Manchester City, United, Arsenal, so it was kind of different for me. I was at a lower club, lower league, so it was a good experience.’
He was in good company, too. Sarmiento recalls lining up alongside the likes of Liverpool’s Harvey Elliot and Fabio Carvalho. He also played with Valencia’s Yunus Musah, who now represents the USA – Sarmiento not the only Young Lions alumni heading to Qatar without needing the call from Gareth Southgate.
![Sarmiento played for England's youth teams before opting to play internationally for Ecuador](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/11/03/15/64155217-11386255-image-a-17_1667490796849.jpg)
Sarmiento played for England's youth teams before opting to play internationally for Ecuador
For the 20-year-old, it was a simple decision when Ecuador came calling. ‘I went with my heart,’ he tells Sportsmail.
Despite his limited time spent in the South American nation, Sarmiento feels at home in La Tri set up. That is largely in part thanks to his two Brighton team-mates whom which he shares both dressing rooms.
The winger makes up one third of the Seagulls’ Ecuadorian triumvirate alongside Moises Caicedo and Pervis Estupinan. The three share a strong bond both in and outside the club.
‘It’s a very good relationship,’ he says. ‘Moises was here before me and then when I found out that I’d be linking up with him it was good.
‘Even he was happy because at the time he didn’t really understand the language, so it was good to help him.
‘His family and my family get along well, we go to each other’s houses. Pervis came which jus topped it off. Whenever we get time off we’ll go out to eat, spend time with each other – even in the national team.’
![Sarmiento could star for Ecuador in their World Cup opener against hosts Qatar on Sunday](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2022/11/03/15/64155213-11386255-image-a-12_1667490755325.jpg)
Sarmiento could star for Ecuador in their World Cup opener against hosts Qatar on Sunday
Such is his own stock with his national team, Sarmiento has the unusual distinction of having played more minutes of international football than first-team senior football. His nine caps also mirror the exact number of senior appearances he has made with Brighton.
He’ll be hoping the trend continues on Sunday, when he and Ecuador take on the World Cup hosts at the Al Bayt Stadium to kick off the tournament, a last-minute change in the schedule at Qatar’s insistence giving Sarmiento and his team-mates a once-in-a-lifetime shot to play in one of sport’s biggest matches.
‘When I saw [the match had been brought forward] I was really buzzing,’ he says.
‘The first game is the one everybody watches, no one wants to miss it. People say it’s a bit of pressure for us but I don’t look at it that way. If we win that game, people will know what we’re about. We’re ready for it.’
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