André Villas-Boas never gave up on Cardoso Varela | OneFootball

Cardoso Varela’s departure from FC Porto in the summer of 2024 became one of the most controversial cases in the recent history of the club’s youth academy. Still a minor, the winger left the club amid conflict and ended up at Dinamo Zagreb, after spending time with an amateur Croatian team. The case led Porto’s SAD to file a complaint with the international authorities, arguing that the rules regarding the transfers of minors had been circumvented.

André Villas-Boas made his outrage over what happened clear from the start. “He was sold false dreams,” said the FC Porto president, adding that the youngster “ended up moving to an amateur club in Croatia under an exception law.” In another statement, the Dragons’ leader assured that the club would fight “to the very last consequences” to prevent similar cases from happening again, claiming that “people with bad intentions” had exploited the situation for their own benefit.

A few days before his return to FC Porto was confirmed, Cardoso Varela was also targeted by his former agent, Andy Bara. In an interview with the Croatian outlet Index, the agent accused the winger of indiscipline, saying that he missed “five or six training sessions” because he overslept and that he even damaged the apartment where he was living, causing losses estimated at 15,000 euros. Bara also pointed to those episodes as the reason for the end of their professional relationship, at a time when the player had already changed representatives and begun working with Pini Zahavi. The player’s family rejected the accusations and described them as retaliation by the agent.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.