Cardoso Varela stalls, now drops to Dinamo Zagreb's B team | OneFootball

After leaving FC Porto’s academy in controversial circumstances in 2024 to join Dinamo Zagreb, at a time when he was also being linked with Barcelona, Cardoso Varela was part of the Croatian club’s first team last season, but he was unable to “break out” as he had surely hoped.

With two goals and three assists in 25 matches, only four of which he started, the 17-year-old Portuguese winger was unable to establish himself as might have been expected and, according to the website “germanijak.hr”, will begin the new season with Dinamo’s B team.

That outcome was already predictable after Varela was left out of the squad for a pre-season friendly between the Zagreb side and Koper (4-2). Even so, the publication highlights that the youngster still has the door to the first team open, if he can establish himself consistently in the B team, with this “demotion” being seen as a natural step in his development process.

“Varela, still only 17, did not have the expected ‘boom’; he failed to establish himself or show why he should be the one to deserve an opportunity in the first team when many other youngsters have to wait much longer. There is no doubt that he is talented, that he has ‘something’, but clearly he is not yet mature enough to compete with senior players at the highest level. He had his chance in these summer training sessions, played against Radomlje and Brinje, but without any significant impact. Dinamo then decided that Varela would return to the B team,” it is explained.

It should be remembered that, despite his limited individual prominence, Cardoso Varela won a domestic double — the league title and the Croatian Cup — in his debut season as a professional.

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