Club: Boca Juniors
Nationality: Argentinian
Age: 21
Position: DM
Preferred foot: Right
Contract expiry: December 31st, 2026
Where he plays:
Varela has been involved in the first scene picture of Boca since the age of 18 making his debut in 2020 and since then has gone on to establish himself as probably Argentina’s biggest defensive midfield talent throughout the years. Playing at the base of Boca’s midfield 3 where he is at his best being used as the sides main player in the first phase of build up taking the ball from the defence and controlling the tempo. Varela is attracting big interest in Europe already with it looking likely he is going to make the move to Porto for a cut price deal.
His attributes:
Off the ball Varela offers quality protection to his back 4 and there are multiple facets of his game that contribute to this. One being his exceptional upper body strength, this gives him an edge in shoulder-to-shoulder duels and allows him to knock opponents off the ball and then hold them off if they’re able to get the chance to counter press him. Another aspect of his defensive play is his precision timing of tackles leading him to win most of his tackles, his timing and intelligence allows him to deal with players running at him remarkably well since he will stay on his feet and wait for the right moment. He will go in hard on challenges occasionally though which I think can be a positive to have as a DM even just from a purely psychological aspect since it can lift the crowd.
But I think the thing that allows him to be so good off the ball is his positioning in the aspect of how close he stays to his man and shadowing passing lanes. As seen in the example above, Varela is shadowing his man’s movement in case an angle opens up for the ball into him, Varela manages to keep a reasonable distance that he can cover in order to press the player quickly. Then, once the play has switched sides he looks to recover into a central position and close passing lanes into the front line which he manages to do successfully. It is positioning like this which makes him so a good out of possession. Since, it shows he has the IQ to set pressing traps by leaving enough space on his man to bait a pass in to then, keeps a distance he knows he can cover, positions himself well to engage in duels effectively and has the awareness to shut down passing lanes.
On the ball he is very impressive and is extremely efficient and smart in what he does. He is extremely active scanning his shoulder to get a complete picture of what’s around him which is one reason why he very rarely ever loses the ball because he knows where the opposition is at all times. There is also lots of intelligence in how he uses his body when receiving the ball, using shoulder feints often to escape pressure and open up the pitch for himself which combined with the fact he moves the ball quickly, rarely taking more than 2 touches, is another reason he is so press resistant.
When Boca look to build the play, Varela is heavily involved and is the main first phase player for the side, showing for the ball frequently and doing so in the correct manner in regard to body shape and scanning. Whilst it comes across as a basic trait to have nowadays in a possession heavy side, body shape and scanning is still two of the most important traits a DM can have in their playstyle. An example of it is above, Varela’s body shape is extremely open meaning he can receive on the back foot easily and play forwards. He is also scanning what space is available to him and can see there is plenty of time for him to receive the ball if the CB wishes to play it to him, his execution of fundamentals is great and most importantly consistent.
With his passing he is very much a controller and sets the tempo for his side. He isn’t a high-volume progressive passer even though he is definitely capable of being one due to his weight of pass being spot on typically when breaking lines, rather retaining the ball which he is brilliant at. Due to Varela’s ability to keep the ball he is the main builder of attacks for Boca since he can ensure they sustain pressure by simply spreading the ball wide and changing the angle of where they attack from. His ball retention also prevents a lot of counters attacking scenarios ever happening which is another way of helping his defence, less attacks= less chance of conceding.
Another aspect of Varela that aids in his task of preventing counters is by how pragmatic he is with getting forward as shown in the heat map, he barely enters the opposition half whatsoever. This provides more security for Boca in transitional moments because Varela can challenge any loose balls or help in any counter press efforts if the forwards get dispossessed which due to his physicality he is good at.
The weak points:
Naturally every player will have things they don’t/can’t do but in Varela’s case it’s hard to pinpoint a weakness other than the lack of progressive carries, but this is not what his role is in the side, so it’s a null point really. It would be nice to see him play as this all-action midfielder who can do everything and break opposition structure with runs from deep, but this isn’t what he is used for and in my opinion that’s fine since he is so good at what he is there for.
The same can be said for the lack of volume in progressive passes, he isn’t meant to be a high-volume forward passer he is much better suited at helping his side keep the ball, dictating the pace and picking his moments when to play the ball forward which is something he is very good at.
But it will be interesting if he does move to a side where they want more aggressive play from him, since in Varela’s case it won’t be a question of technical capability but rather having the bravery to play the riskier pass more often, but I personally think he would adapt to such a demand relatively quickly.
The future:
So, I really think any club that needs a first phase midfielder should be looking at Varela as a serious option since he has the stamina to cover ground, is intelligent in his positioning, has very good ball retention and can control a game through his passing. He wouldn’t demand a huge fee whatsoever and for me would succeed in a lot of sides that want to be possession heavy but just need someone to be able to control the game for them, Manchester United would have been an option but they clearly aren’t going for this type of player this summer.
