Villas-Boas on Varela: “Like Mora, he could be in Porto’s first team” | OneFootball

André Villas-Boas spoke again about the Cardoso Varela case, presenting it as a clear example of the system’s failures in protecting underage players. In an interview with Kicker, the FC Porto president said: “Like Rodrigo Mora, Cardoso Varela could also be playing for FC Porto’s first team right now. We had planned for him to complete pre-season with the first team that year [when he disappeared from the radar]. We are seeing more and more people driven by the temptation of financial gain, exploiting the careers of underage players and destroying their dreams.”

The Porto leader was particularly harsh about the move to Croatia, calling it “to say the least, very strange,” and arguing that it had “two objectives: first, to take him away from FC Porto without the club being entitled to receive a transfer fee and, second, to move him as quickly as possible to another top club.” Villas-Boas maintains that the whole process was “planned to circumvent FIFA rules,” pointing to a “bridge transfer” logic.

In that context, he revealed that Porto had acted with the relevant authorities: “The only thing we could do was alert UEFA, FIFA and the Portuguese Football Federation to a possible breach of the rules.” Even so, he regrets that these practices persist and criticises “the greed of those involved.”

Villas-Boas also took the opportunity to rule out a possible future link between Cardoso Varela and Barcelona, indicating that he spoke with the Catalans’ sporting director: “After speaking with Deco, I understood that this is not the case.”

Two years after Cardoso Varela’s departure: “For us, it remains clear that Cardoso’s transfer to an amateur club in Croatia ultimately had two objectives: first, to take him away from FC Porto without the club being entitled to receive a transfer fee. And second, to transfer him as quickly as possible to another top club, probably from one of the five major leagues. That can still happen, of course. In our opinion, the approach adopted with the Croatian amateur club (NK Dinamo Odranski Obrez) was planned to circumvent FIFA rules. It had nothing to do with his father’s move there. In that sense, the only thing we could do was alert football’s main institutions — UEFA, FIFA and the Portuguese Football Federation — to a possible violation of Article 19.”

What did you expect from FIFA?: “It must be said that a young player leaving a club like FC Porto, with the history and experience we have in providing talented players with the best possible environment through our academy system to develop and become major European stars, and then moving to an amateur club in Croatia with no track record and lacking proper conditions is, to say the least, very strange.”

Reaction of the federations: “Both the Portuguese Football Federation and the Croatian one shared our view that this could be what is known as a ‘bridge transfer’, which is why FIFA initially refused to authorise the minor’s international transfer. When Cardoso Varela turned 16, there was nothing more we could do. However, we believe it was important to publicly denounce these practices to raise awareness that these illegitimate practices involving underage players unfortunately continue to occur all over the world.”

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