José Mourinho’s revolution at Manchester United has kicked off in the manner that shall please the fans to an unimaginable extent. Their clear signal of intent to reclaim lost glory could be deciphered from the trio of stupendous incomings under the new manager in the shape of Eric Bailly, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Zlatan Ibrahimović have sent tremors of terror in the camps of their fellow rivals.
In terms of exit, Nick Powell and Victor Valdés were shipped to Wigan Athletic and Middlesbrough respectively on a free transfer before the Portuguese took over, but they definitely didn’t invite as much attention as that a certain Guillermo Varela’s season-long loan move to Eintracht Frankfurt a few days ago under Mourinho’s regime. Now, the query of whether the loan spell would yield substantial results is what specifically drives our attention to the occasion.
The 23-year-old was the club’s first signing post Sir Alex Ferguson era after he was roped in from the Uruguayan outfit Atlético Peñarol in the summer transfer window of 2013. An impressive loan spell to Real Madrid Castilla in the 2014-15 season saw him being praised by none other than Zinedine Zidane. Matteo Darmian’s pale form and Antonio Valencia’s injury paved the way for Varela’s chances to impress the then manager Louis Van Gaal last season and was handed ten starts under the Dutchman.
The Uruguayan’s unquestionable energy to cover every inch of grass, tremendous work ethic and sound defensive attributes pleased Manchester United faithful. Despite having impressed in the reserves level, he could not replicate his form when called to the senior level. Varela’s doomsday arrived when he failed to go toe-to-toe with Phillipe Coutinho’s calibre when Manchester United locked horns with their lifelong rivals Liverpool. The youngster’s mistake allowed the Brazilian sensation to bag a crucial away goal which allowed Jürgen Klopp’s men to get the upper hand in the Europa League and eventually, United were the ones to succumb.
The starlet had fallen behind in the pecking order and his chances under Mourinho did look slim owing to the fact that there is no dearth of skilled folks in the right-back slot. Apart from Valencia and Darmian, another youngster in Timothy Fosu-Mensah is in contention for a starting berth which leaves very faint chance for anyone else for the luxury.
At Bundesliga, Varela will have a bright opportunity to prove his mettle by plying his trade as a first team footballer (hopefully) and he should grab the chance with both hands if he wants to prove a point to Mourinho or to make the elite clubs queue up for his signature. Varela is at that stage of his career where he should be playing first team football every week, and Frankfurt would hand him the experience of playing against top clubs in Europe which would mould the promising youngster into a prized asset in the near future.
