Cardoso Varela has stalled and now drops to Dinamo Zagreb's B team | OneFootball

After leaving FC Porto’s academy in controversial fashion 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 failed to “break out” as he had certainly 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 notes that the youngster still has the first team door open if he can prove himself consistently with the B team, with this “drop” being seen as a natural step in his development process.

“Varela, still only 17, did not have the expected ‘boom’; he did not establish himself or show why he should be the one deserving 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 he is clearly not yet mature enough to compete with senior players at the highest level. He had opportunities 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 explains.

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.