Ex-agent slams Cardoso Varela: “Missed training, trashed a flat” | OneFootball

Andy Bara, Cardoso Varela’s former agent, launched harsh criticism at the 17-year-old Portuguese winger after the player changed representatives and moved to Dinamo Zagreb’s B team.

Speaking to the Croatian outlet Index, the agent explained that he decided not to renew the representation contract.

“Our contract ended and I didn’t offer him a new one because I felt he didn’t deserve it,” he began.

Bara acknowledged the player’s talent, but was blunt about his attitude.

“Is he a great talent? Yes. Does he behave properly? No. He fell asleep in five or six training sessions, we warned him about 50 times. He destroyed the apartment he was living in and the repairs cost 15,000 euros. I even asked the owner not to make that public,” he revealed.

The agent also said that Dinamo Zagreb’s coach tried several times to set the player straight.

“He spoke to him more than once, but he would look at the ground, not reply, and thought he was going to play automatically because I was his agent. He has to earn his place on the pitch,” said Bara.

The agent added that Varela arrived for pre-season “unprepared” and admitted he agreed with the decision to place him in the B team.

“After the last unsuccessful conversation, I saw that the coach had put him in the second team and said there was no alternative left,” he said. Even so, he made a point of stressing that he still believes in the Portuguese player’s potential.

“I’d like him to be sold for 100 million euros. He is still an enormous talent, but at this moment he doesn’t deserve for me to represent a player like that,” he shot back.

It is worth recalling that Cardoso Varela was at the centre of a controversial departure from FC Porto in the summer of 2024, when he was only 15 years old. At a time when the Dragons were trying to renew his youth contract, the player became unreachable and eventually moved to Croatia, in a transfer that led FC Porto to file a complaint with FIFA, alleging a scheme to use a Croatian club as a “springboard” for a future move to one of Europe’s leading clubs.

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