SL1-PO-R1: PAOK - PAS Giannina (13-03-22, 21:30 EET)

[Dutch Eagle]

He is adapting well. He played his sixth League match and got his third yellow. 

About his abilities: I'm not convinced yet.

[PAOKSYD]

Its looks like Boto made some serious side cash in the Soares purchase! 

Hes shown nothing of value so far. Any player from our B side would be at his current level..

Lets hope that after this season and with a full preseason under his belt at PAOK he can settle in and show us why we paid 2.5m - 2.8m euro for him...

[Bananas]

3 yellows in 6 appearances.  It is encouraging that he’s already understanding the team philosophy.  I say extend his contract.

[pash]

He needs a few long-term injuries before we consider that!

[Athens4]

At this point I wouldn't be surprised if we offered Varela a 2-year extension.

[Dutch Eagle]

4 hours ago, Bananas said:

3 yellows in 6 appearances.  It is encouraging that he’s already understanding the team philosophy.  I say extend his contract.

And none of the games was the full 90 mins .........

[Blackhawk]

Soares should have been ejected from the game for second yellow. I think we will see the real Soares next season.

As for Varela he is not coming back. Lucescu called in Koulierakis from the B team to replace Michailidis. Good move.

[Bananas]

Varela ... what the hell happened there?  He went from being a first team player to not even being picked in match squads in a matter of what seems like weeks.  Did somebody hurt his feelings and he's called it a day ?

[pash]

I'm guessing that is not a rhetorical question so I'll answer it straight: the team got butthurt that his son signed with Benfica, it led to some weirdly bad blood between the two sides, and ended with Varela has been training with the B team for, what, 6 weeks now? I believe he was removed from our European list when we moved past the group stage as well.

There were some rumors that his old team in Romania was interested, but were not willing to pay the salary he's on. So he's content to ride out the remainder of his contract and then try his luck as a free agent. A sad end to a great partnership.

[Athens4]

I think it was a mistake to renew his contract for 3 years. He was solid in the title-winning season, managed to keep some of that form during the beginning of the next season but then quickly dwindled.

I think it shows how immature PAOK is as a club. He took his son to Benfica. We acted as if he took his son to another Greek team. Sure, we helped create the player that his son is but at the end of the day all fathers want the best for their kid. It was the right move for him and our reaction shows how we have a village mentality. Instead of dropping Varela for his poor performance, he was ultimately dropped for sending his son to one of the biggest selling clubs in the world.

[Bananas]

Yeah I remember reading about his son signing for Benfica but didn’t think anything of it.   I mean who wouldn’t take that opportunity.  So I didn’t read anything into it.  If there any truth to the club being “offended” by it … well they should get over it.

If anything his form had dropped considerably and we were leaking goals like a sieve.  So I just figured he was dropped to give him a kick in the pants ego wise and he either couldn’t be bothered or just can’t play at the level anymore.  A quite precipitous drop really.

So I guess that’s that then.  Crazy when you think about it.  I can remember comments on this forum when we won the title like “Varela is king” (that made me laugh).  A shame he couldn’t go out in a more dignified manner.

[Blackhawk]

Hold on a second. Varela used his son as a negotiation tactic to get a new contract with PAOK. Apparently Varela Sr. demanded a new contract to keep Varela Jr. at PAOK.

[pash]

Where are you hearing this?

[PAOKSYD]

Varela deserves to rot. 

He used paok took millions from the club and then backstabs us with his signing for Benfica and not us. 

[Athens4]

4 hours ago, Blackhawk said:

Hold on a second. Varela used his son as a negotiation tactic to get a new contract with PAOK. Apparently Varela Sr. demanded a new contract to keep Varela Jr. at PAOK.

I didn't know this. It seems there are always two sides to a story.

[Bananas]

Either way he's 5th choice CB even if we were to offer him a new contract (which would be bizarre).  He's had 5 or 6 mostly good seasons with us, made himself some dollars and overall been a excellent transfer for us.  Time to call it a day and look towards the future for both Varela and the club.