Guillermo Varela

Wow - he's still on our books? haven't even seen a pic of him since before he went on loan to Madrid!
 
The season under Moyes we had problems at right-back and I was screaming that he was the solution then, for some reason we then shipped him out on loan.

Anyhoo, I have no doubts that if he were to play, he would excel. Has everything a modern full back should have.

I don't agree with @khoazany 's assertion that he doesn't have the defensive chops.
 
He impressed at madrid reserves, that is not much though.He is a player who has had no chance here. He is in a weird situation
 
Good luck to him if involved. LVG loves a fullback substitution so his chances are likely.
 
He is going to start/come off the bench and screw up my lineup predtiction isnt he?
 
Not sure why people keep quoting @khoazany post with other short players considering he said physicality not height. Varela does lack physicality, he's small and doesn't have much power but unlike most of the others mentioned he doesn't have a huge strength to make up for it. Most of the others mentioned are extremely quick/brilliant technically/excellent readers of the game/exceptional athletes. Varela doesn't have any 1 particular strength but is good at most things and is a nice player to watch but the thinking from some at the club is that he could be targeted and exposed by any teams with strong and quick wingers and even though its not that often exposed at reserve/u21 level his positional sense isn't the best. Of course he could take to first team football and kick on but these are some of the reasons why he hasn't been thrown in before now
 
Did well, a couple of mistakes around the 83rd minute but by and large didn't get to do much going forwards but snuffed out some West Ham attacks early by taking a chance and trying to intercept. Kept the ball alive for Schweinsteigers chance as well.
 
Haven't watched him in the reserves at all or anything like that. But from what i saw today, i wasn't overly impressed. Seemed to just keep dropping off at times, and letting the winger keep running at him. At times right from the halfway line, all the way into the box. Not sure he is the answer right now to our problems, but I feel he will need to step up far more than he did today defensively. Saying that he seemed to be ok on the ball, so hopefully if he does get a few more games, he can contribute more going forward than our makeshift full backs.
 
I thought he did well considering it was his first time involved with the first team on a proper match day. He ran well with the ball and got stuck in, making some really good challenges. He got done positionally once and made one rash tackle but that's just a bit of naivety and to be expected. A promising debut I thought.
 
Seems very weak, got easily bullied and was forced to make some silly tackles to cover for it. He's young though. Glad for him that he's made his debut.
 
Good pass and move link up ability, particularly in our early build up play. Physically did not look strong enough.
 
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