Barcelona miss out on highly-rated teenage winger as player set for shock Porto return

Barcelona miss out on highly-rated teenage winger as player set for shock Porto return Sometime last season, Barcelona were highly expected to make a move for rising talent Cardoso Varela, having reached initial agreement. But not very long ago, it was reported that the Blaugrana still haven’t made a move for the young and explosive winger, who currently plies his trade for Dinamo Zagreb. Now, Barça’s inaction may cost them dear as the club are set to lose out on the pursuit of the talented attacker. Barcelona set to miss out on Varela According to Croatian outlet Sportske Novosti (h/t SPORT ), Varela is poised to leave Dinamo Zagreb and rejoin his former club Porto on a free transfer, the very club he left amid enormous controversy just a year ago. Deco had devised a plan to sign Varela almost a year ago. (Photo by Friedemann Vogel/Getty Images) The structure of the deal will see Dinamo Zagreb retain 50%of any future sale, with Porto handed an option to purchase that share at a later stage. It represents a dramatic shift from the situation Barcelona had carefully engineered only a few months ago. Deco’s plan falls apart Barcelona’s sporting department had monitored the winger’s development intently ever since he departed Porto’s academy. Deco even travelled to meet the player’s representatives , underlining just how seriously the Catalans viewed the youngster. Those efforts culminated in a preferential agreement with Dinamo Zagreb, which included a purchase option of around €5 million plus a substantial package of variables that could have taken the total operation to €25 million. The plan was straightforward: allow Varela to continue developing in Croatia before deciding whether to trigger that option in a future window. A missed opportunity for Deco? (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images) His return to Porto, however, leaves Barcelona empty-handed. Why the move accelerated Varela had been frozen out of Dinamo Zagreb’s first team for more than a month, training with the reserves after making clear his desire to leave the club. Compounding matters was a change in representation, with the winger ending his relationship with Andy Bara to be advised by Pini Zahavi, one of the most powerful agents in European football. That switch is understood to have accelerated negotiations, which are now all but complete. Safe to say, Barcelona have lost one of the most promising options they had lined up for the future.