The Russian football Premier League today cannot boast of an abundance of transfer news related to legionnaires. Especially really loud and sensational. However, Dynamo defender Guillermo Varela was able to surprise. The only pity is that he did it in a peculiar way – he took it and left the club without permission. It turned out to be a real scandal.

But Varela, who once played for Manchester United, should be grateful to the Moscow club, with the help of which he not only revived his career, but even returned to the Uruguay national team. From the Danish Copenhagen, where Guillermo played after England, for some reason he was not called to La Celeste. And from Dynamo, after winning the bronze of the Russian championship, they called. And just before the World Cup in Qatar.

In the opening match of the new season against Rostov, the Uruguayan played all 90 minutes, and then publicly announced that he was ready to spend the whole season in Russia, but … the day before the second round meeting, he simply disappeared from the base and stopped answering calls. Two days later, he still drove to Novogorsk. Just for the sake of picking up things.

Yes, according to the current FIFA rules, foreign players this season have the right to suspend contracts with Russian clubs, but for some reason the Uruguayan did not do this. I chose a different, very, very strange path.

Guillermo Varela / Photo: © FC Dynamo

The motives driving the player became a little clearer when details of his escape began to surface in the media. For example, the fact that Varela’s agent demanded to double the salary of his client, and also wanted to see a huge agency bonus for himself. Naturally, the club was not satisfied with such conditions, but negotiations exist in order to seek mutual understanding. Why didn’t the player and the agent look for him?

On transfermarkt.com, Guillermo Varela’s official representative is Oscar Bentancourt. However, comments on Oscar’s clients, especially “star” ones, in the media are usually given by his cousin Pablo Bentancur, a fairly well-known specialist in Latin America. And, as it turned out, not only with his work.

For example, in November 2002, he killed a 16-year-old girl in his Mercedes at a speed of more than 100 km / h, after which he fled the scene of the crime. Subsequently, he offered his driver a bribe to take the blame, but when the driver saw the pictures of the deceased girl, he confessed to everything. As a result, Pablo was convicted of causing death by negligence and spent nine months in prison.

After serving his term, in October 2004 he was again detained by the police for drunk driving: already on the Jaguar he cut through the Uruguayan capital with a huge excess of speed.

In 2012, Pablo was a witness in the case of organizing a VIP prostitution network, which he himself often used. Although, according to the Uruguayan media, investigators suspected Bentancur of being directly involved in organizing an illegal business and exploiting women when negotiating with football players and leaders of European clubs. However, Pablo was never formally charged.

And more recently, one of the most titled clubs in Uruguay, Defensor Sporting, severed all ties with Bentancur and made him persona non grata at all his events after he took three important players away from the club.

And this is not the first such episode in the career of an agent – before that, Nacional, Danubio and Cerro Largo took similar steps in his direction. Other leading clubs in Uruguay do not like Bentancur’s business methods either. Having lost almost all connections in his homeland (Bentancur was born in Peru, but spent most of his life in Uruguay), Pablo, apparently, did not come up with anything better than to start blackmailing Dynamo. Well, it’s interesting to see if anyone wants to deal with a similar character here in Russia.

As for Varela, this is, of course, his choice. You just need to remember that a reputation is earned over the years, and lost in an instant. Or for one thoughtless act.