Guillermo Varela Olivera (; born 24 March 1993) is a Uruguayan professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian"), and also known as Brasileirão Assaí due to sponsorship with Assaí Atacadista, is a Br ...

club

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football t ...

, on loan from

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (russian: МГО ВФСО «Динамо»), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (russian: Динамо Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first ...

, and the Uruguay national team. Varela began his career with

Peñarol Club Atlético Peñarol (; English: ''Peñarol Athletic Club'') —also known as ''Carboneros'', ''Aurinegros,'' and (familiarly) ''Manyas''— is a Uruguayan sports club from Montevideo. The name "Peñarol" comes from the Peñarol neigh ...

, in his home town of

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, before joining

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

in 2013. He made 11 first-team appearances for United and spent time on loan at

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

's reserve team,

Real Madrid Castilla Real Madrid Castilla Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team that plays in Primera Federación – Group 1 for the 2022–23 season. It is Real Madrid's reserve team. They play their home games at the Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium with a cap ...

, and at

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

, before rejoining Peñarol in 2017. Varela won two

Uruguayan Primera División The Liga Profesional de Primera División (American Spanish , en, First Division Professional League, local: , ''First Division''), named "Torneo Uruguayo Copa Coca-Cola" for sponsorship reasons, is the highest professional Association football, ...

titles with Peñarol, before returning to Europe in January 2019 when he signed for Danish club

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

. He made 53 appearances for Copenhagen and helped them win the

2018–19 Danish Superliga The 2018–19 Danish Superliga season was the 29th season of the Danish Superliga. Midtjylland were the defending champions. The season started on 13 July 2018 and ended on 26 May 2019. Teams FC Helsingør finished as loser in the relegation pl ...

. In October 2020, he joined Russian club Dynamo Moscow on a loan deal, which was made permanent in July 2021. Varela was a member of Uruguay's under-20 team that was runners-up in the

2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the nineteenth edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, since its inception in 1977 as the FIFA World Youth Championship. It ran from 21 June to 13 July 2013. At the FIFA Executive Meeting in Zürich on 3 March 2011, ...

. He made his senior international debut in November 2017 and has played at two

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

s, in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

and

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

Club career

Peñarol

Born in

, Varela started his career with his hometown club

and made his senior debut on 5 June 2011, in a 1–0 home defeat against

Racing Club de Montevideo Racing Club de Montevideo is a football club from Montevideo in Uruguay. It currently participates in the Uruguayan Segunda División Profesional following their relegation at the end of the 2019 season. Racing CM is known as "La Escuelita" (Th ...

, on the last matchday of

Manchester United and loan to Real Madrid Castilla

In May 2013, Varela went on a two-week trial with

after an impressive performance at the

2013 South American Youth Championship The 2013 South American Youth Football Championship ( es, ''Campeonato Sudamericano Sub-20 ''Juventud de América'' Argentina 2013'', italic=unset, pt, ''Campeonato Sul-Americano Sub-20 ''Juventude da América'' Argentina 2013'', italic=unset, re ...

. On 7 June, Varela announced he was having a medical, and on 11 June, United completed his signing on afive-year contract, becoming the first signing of new manager

David Moyes David William Moyes ( ; born 25 April 1963) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player. He is currently the manager of Premier League club West Ham United. He was previously the manager of Preston North End, Everton, Manches ...

. In September 2014, Varela joined Real Madrid reserve side

for a season-long loan. He was, however, included in the

2014–15 UEFA Champions League The 2014–15 UEFA Champions League was the 60th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 23rd season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. The final was pl ...

squad for the first-team and he was given the squad number 28. He made 33 appearances and scored once, when he was set up by

Martin Ødegaard Martin Ødegaard (born 17 December 1998) is a Norwegian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Arsenal and the Norway national team. Ødegaard began his senior club career at age 15 in 2014, playing for Str ...

in a 4–0 win over

Barakaldo Barakaldo ( es, Baracaldo; eu, Barakaldo ) is a municipality located in the Biscay province in the Basque Country. Located on the Left Bank of the Estuary of Bilbao, the city is part of Greater Bilbao, has a population at 100,881. Barakaldo ha ...

on 21 February 2015, at the

Estadio Alfredo Di Stéfano A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

in the season's

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

Return to United and loan to Eintracht Frankfurt

After returning to United, Varela was included in their squad for the group stage of the

2015–16 UEFA Champions League The 2015–16 UEFA Champions League was the 61st season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 24th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. Barcelona were t ...

. He made his debut on 5 December 2015, as a half-time substitute for

Paddy McNair Patrick James Coleman McNair (born 27 April 1995) is a Northern Irish professional footballer who plays as a defender or a midfielder for Championship club Middlesbrough and the Northern Ireland national team. McNair signed for Manchester Unit ...

in a goalless

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

draw against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

. Three days later, Varela made his first start and Champions League debut in the

, playing the full 90 minutes in a 3–2 defeat to

Wolfsburg Wolfsburg (; Eastphalian: ''Wulfsborg'') is the fifth largest city in the German state of Lower Saxony, located on the river Aller. It lies about east of Hanover and west of Berlin. Wolfsburg is famous as the location of Volkswagen AG's hea ...

. On 25 February 2016, in a Europa League Round of 32 return leg against

FC Midtjylland FC Midtjylland (, "Central Jutland") is a Danish professional football club based in Herning and Ikast in the western part of Jutland. The club is the result of a merger between Ikast FS and Herning Fremad. Midtjylland competes in the Danish Su ...

, he assisted on the second of the two goals

Marcus Rashford Marcus Rashford (born 31 October 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Manchester United and the England national team. Considered one of the best players in the world, he is known for his explosive ath ...

scored on his senior debut. On 19 April, Varela scored an injury-time winner to win Manchester United Under-21s the 2015–16 U21 Premier League title. Upon the arrival of

José Mourinho José Mário dos Santos Mourinho Félix GOIH (; born 26 January 1963), is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Italian Serie A club Roma. Once dubbed "The Special One" by the British ...

as United manager in 2016, Varela came on as a substitute in Mourinho's first match in charge of the team, a 2–0 friendly win away to

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

. However, he was not included in Mourinho's squad for the club's summer tour of China, and on 23 July, Varela joined German club

on a season-long loan deal. Frankfurt coach

Niko Kovač Niko Kovač (; born 15 October 1971) is a Croatian professional football coach and former player. He is currently the manager of Bundesliga club VFL Wolfsburg. Kovač was the long-standing captain of the Croatia national team until his retirem ...

revealed at the end of the season that Varela was expected to play in the

2017 DFB-Pokal Final The 2017 DFB-Pokal Final decided the winner of the 2016–17 DFB-Pokal, the 74th season of the annual German football cup competition. The match was played on 27 May 2017 at the Olympiastadion in Berlin. Eintracht Frankfurt, in their first final ...

and be given an extension, but these plans were abandoned after Varela defied the instructions of the club's training staff and got a tattoo, which later became inflamed. Because of this, and other disciplinary issues, Varela was suspended by the club, who said that they would not be attempting to extend his loan deal.

Return to Peñarol

On 12 August 2017, Varela returned to Peñarol on a permanent deal. He made his second debut for the club on 20 August 2017, in 4–0 win against

El Tanque Sisley El Tanque Sisley is a football club from Montevideo in Uruguay. They currently play in the Uruguayan 3rd Division. The club were founded in 1955 with the name ''Club Atlético El Tanque'', on December 15, 1981 the club were amalgamated with '' ...

FC Copenhagen

On 20 December 2018,

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each yea ...

team

FC Copenhagen Football Club Copenhagen ( da, Football Club København, ), commonly known as FC København, FC Copenhagen, Copenhagen or simply FCK, is a professional Danish football club in Copenhagen, Denmark. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure on ...

announced that Varela would join them in January 2019, on a deal until June 2023.

Dynamo Moscow

On 17 October 2020, he joined

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

club

FC Dynamo Moscow FC Dynamo Moscow (''FC Dynamo Moskva'', russian: Дина́мо Москва́ ) is a Russian football club based in Moscow. Dynamo returned to the Russian Premier League for the 2017–18 season after one season in the second-tier Russian Footb ...

on loan for the 2020–21 season. On 17 July 2021, he moved to Dynamo Moscow on a permanent basis and signed a two-year contract with the club. He was voted player of the month by Dynamo fans for October 2021.

Flamengo

On 30 July 2022,

signed Varela on loan from Dynamo Moscow until 31 May 2023. On 12 January 2023 Flamengo announced that Varela, previously on loan, signed a pre contract for a permanent deal starting at the end of his constract with

on 1 July 2023.

International career

Varela made 29 appearances for the Uruguay under-20 team. He played for Uruguay at the

, where the team finished as runners-up to champions France. On 5 March 2016, following his emergence into the Manchester United first-team, Varela received his first call-up to the

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

senior squad, for the

World Cup qualifiers The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

later that same month. In June 2018, Varela was named in Uruguay's final 23-man

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and US doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a team, but smaller than a section." while US Army do ...

for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

in Russia. Varela was named in Uruguay's

for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

. He came on as a substitute in the 88th minute in Uruguay's first game of the tournament – against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, replacing Facundo Pellistri.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Peñarol *

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Supercopa Uruguaya The Supercopa Uruguaya (''Uruguayan Supercup'') is an annual one-match football official competition in Uruguay organised by the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) which is played between the Primera División champions and the Torneo Intermedi ...

Copenhagen *

: 2018–19 Flamengo *

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Varela, Guillermo Living people 1993 births Footballers from Montevideo Association football fullbacks Uruguayan footballers Uruguayan people of Galician descent Uruguay international footballers Uruguay under-20 international footballers Uruguayan people of Spanish descent Peñarol players Manchester United F.C. players Real Madrid Castilla footballers Eintracht Frankfurt players F.C. Copenhagen players FC Dynamo Moscow players CR Flamengo footballers Uruguayan Primera División players Segunda División B players Premier League players Bundesliga players Russian Premier League players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Copa Libertadores-winning players 2018 FIFA World Cup players 2022 FIFA World Cup players Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in England Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Spain Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Germany Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Russia Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Expatriate footballers in Russia Expatriate footballers in Brazil Uruguayan expatriate footballers