Abel Walatee’s heart-warming post-game interview: ‘This is my second home’

Every so often a player comes along and captures the hearts and minds of fans. Western United’s Abel Walatee is that player.

Walatee continues to impress in 2024-25 after signing his first professional contract, and he was in the thick of Western’s 3-0 win over second-placed Adelaide United at Ironbark Fields on Sunday.

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The 21-year-old is someone who is clearly appreciating every moment. Walatee wasn’t born in Australia; in fact he was born in Ghana before relocating to Liberia at about six months of age to live with his grandmother, with both of his parents overseas. It was not until he was eight years old that he boarded a plane to Australia.

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At Western, the young gun has found his “second home”.

“I’ve been starting a lot of games in the past few weeks, and my confidence is building and building,” he told Paramount+ after the Green and Black climbed up to third in the standings.

“I’m doing my all for the team and working hard. Fans coming along, I have friends and family coming along too, so I’m playing for them too. It was very good. I try to enjoy it every single time.”

After a stint with Melbourne City’s youth team, Walatee was part of Western’s inaugural academy squad, and flourished within the club’s youth setup.

Then an opportunity to play abroad emerged in 2023. Before making his Isuzu UTE A-League debut and scoring his first goal, Walatee made the move to Danish pro side Akademisk Boldklub Gladsaxe on a four-year deal. But it did not go according to plan.

John Aloisi and Western are benefiting from his return.

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“Everyone here, coming here every day, waking up in the morning and coming here, it feels like home. This is my second home,” said Walatee.

“I know everyone here, everyone here really loves me. I love coming here every morning for training.

“This is a team, If I was to go overseas that I’d love to come back here and retire.

“The coaching here is really good. I really love it and everyone supports me a lot.

“My teammates are always here for me, even the boss. Playing games in front of these fans, it means a lot to me.”

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After the match, Western head coach Aloisi told reporters: “Abel is one of those players who can cause any opposition problems. Last week we didn’t feel he had his best game.

“But this week in training, we could see, ‘okay Abel looks like he’s on this week’. It’s now him finding that consistency, if he can find that, he will be a headache for any opposition.

“Also, he will not only cause problems but create chances for us. But I was probably most pleased about the way he worked defensively. It’s the best I’ve seen him work defensively.”