G. Varela has gone from a low-cost signing to one of the most watched forwards in Italy. He has 9 Serie A goals in 9 appearances for Monza, 11 goals in all competitions this season, and interest from Arsenal, Barcelona and Napoli has followed the start he has made.
Benfica's sell-on position
Benfica sold Varela to Monza last summer for €2 million plus performance-related bonuses, and kept 20 percent of the future capital gain plus a right of first refusal. A transfer at €50 million would be worth about €9.6 million to Benfica, which is exactly why Lisbon are watching this so closely.
That is the figure A Bola put on the table, while the same reports also say Monza value him at between €40 million and €50 million. The club have no release clause to lean on, and they signed him until June 2030.
Monza's price and Juric's line
Monza's numbers are the obvious reason the market has moved. Varela has scored 9 league goals in 762 Serie A minutes, and Monza are 18th in Serie A with 7 points from 10 league matches, so a big offer would be hard to ignore even if they would rather keep him.
Ivan Juric tried to cool the January talk, telling TuttoMercatoWeb: "January is far away. I trust him, he is a good guy. He works hard and wants to improve, he has a positive character. We hope he grows even more". The form is real, though, and Monza now look more likely to spend the winter fielding calls than enjoying quiet about their striker.
Written by Daniel Hartley with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 4 outlets. How we work →
