Juan Manuel Vargas is a Peruvian player who is currently a free agent. Considered one of the best Peruvian players of the 21st century. His playing career includes clubs such as, Universitario, Colon Santa Fe, Catania, Fiorentina, Genoa on loan and Real Betis. As mentioned he is currently a free agent and currently finds himself with 0 football, including internationals. Juan Manuel Vargas has been without a club for 6 months now and could find himself going back to his native country instead of finding another club in Europe or back in Argentina. While there are no rumours of it, I personally have a few reasons of why I believe he will find himself back at Universitario, the club he started at.
As a quick confirmation, these are NOT rumours. This is a prediction and my reasons for believing this.
Reason 1 – Free Agency
Juan Manuel Vargas has been a free agent for 6 months now, and there seems to be very little sign of him returning to football in Europe soon. There are currently no rumours of him getting back to football, and will not play again until 2017 at least. Juan Manuel Vargas had a good career in Europe and made himself somewhat of a name in Europe by playing in Serie A including Fiorentina who are a very reputable club in Italy. He went on to make 147 appearances for Fiorentina and scoring 17 goals. However, despite this, clubs don’t seem to be interested in him and the lack of club and international football may see him move back to Universitario who will accept a player of his calibre with open arms. His age may put a lot of European clubs off, being 33 years old, which puts us at our next point…
Reason 2 – Age
Juan Manuel Vargas is currently 33 years old, while there do exist players that peak in their 30’s (mostly goalkeepers, Aduriz another example) Vargas is not an example of this and considering he will likely retire within the next 5 years, this is more than likely putting a lot of European clubs off: Players over 32 usually lose speed and fitness which is something that is very important to have in Europe considering the high standard of football. Another reason age may see him go back to Universitario is because of the fact that South Americans usually like to retire in their own countries. A lot of European players go to the MLS or China but South Americans generally like to finish their careers where they started or the country they’re from. Carlos Tevez and Ronaldinho are examples of this. Vargas is 33 and isn’t getting any younger so he may take the decision to go back to Peru to play for the club he started at. Him having 6 months without football along with his age may make him realize that maybe its time to go back.
Reason 3 – Gareca’s promise
Ricardo Gareca is currently the manager of the Peruvian national team. In the 2015 Copa America, he had a team full of the Peruvian “star players”. This included Jefferson Farfan, Carlos Zambrano, Paolo Guerrero, Claudio Pizarro and of course, Juan Manuel Vargas. That team reached the Copa America semi final and finished 3rd at the end of the tournament. However, poor performance in the qualifiers made Gareca question whether these players were correct to take the team forward. Farfan ended up moving to Al-Jazira from Schalke, which Gareca wasn’t fond off. A lot of the players on that team moved to new clubs after the Copa America was done. However, these players lacked playing time and in the end, it began affecting performances with the national team. A 2-2 home draw against Venezuela was the straw that broke the camels back and Gareca for his next call up got rid of all the players without playing time as well as the players who were a problem off the pitch with issues such as partying before games. Juan Manuel Vargas’ lack of playing time due to being clubless saw him removed from the national team. Gareca said to several players that he will only call them up if they play for a club and show discipline off the pitch. This is proven by the most recent call up, Luis Advincula was not getting much playing time at Bursaspor. He is now at Newells Old Boys in Argentina and he is getting playing time there which saw him called up twice. The first time he was recalled, he showed a lack of discipline and got removed quickly again but the playing time he’s getting has not gone unnoticed as he was called back up for Peru’s recent games away to Paraguay and Brazil. While it is very unlikely that Juan Manuel Vargas will get called back up to Peru regardless if he finds a club or not, he may believe that if he finds a club, he will get called back up. He doesn’t have many options at the moment so he may opt to choose Universitario as one of his few choices.
Reason 4 – A free position
Juan Manuel Vargas should he return to Universitario, is almost guaranteed playing time because of his level and experience. However, he can play as a winger or as a left back. Miguel Trauco is the current left back and has been a revelation since signing for the club. His performances domestically and internationally have generated many rumours of him going abroad with Palermo, and Flamengo interested. With Trauco more than likely outgoing, that leaves an open space for Juan Manuel Vargas to play as the new LB for the club and this could benefit both sides. Universitario will need a new LB and Juan Vargas will get playing time.
So to make something clear, THESE ARE NOT RUMOURS. These are my reasons as to why I think Juan Manuel Vargas will come back to Peru to play for La U in 2017. His free agency, his age, Gareca’s promise and being able to replace Trauco are the reasons why I think he’ll likely make a return. This could be a very good thing for Universitario, or a bad one. However that’s a whole different topic entirely. While there have been a few rumours of him returning, this article isn’t listing those and is simply stating reasons as to what could see him return.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Manuel_Vargas
Futbol Talk 
Complete rubbish.
LikeLike
So rubbish it actually happened m8
LikeLike
Compelling reasons for him to return to Universitario as he’s fallen of the radar. The promise of Copa Libertadores football will set him back on track to relevance again.
LikeLike