Stanislav Varga

Date and Place of Birth 8th October 1972 - LIPANY, SLOVAKIA   Transfers to and from Burnley from SUNDERLAND - 4th January 2008 (loan) returned - 5th May 2008   First and Last Burnley Games ARSENAL (h) - 6th January 2008   WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS (h) - 15th March 2008 replaced by David Unsworth   Other Clubs TATRAN PREŠOV, SLOVAN BRATISLAVA, SUNDERLAND, WEST BROMWICH ALBION (loan), CELTIC, SUNDERLAND

Burnley Career Stats

Profile by Tony Scholes

Stanislav Varga was Owen Coyle's first signing as Burnley manager when he arrived at Turf Moor during the first week of 2008. Coyle had said he would strengthen the defence after a shocking New Year's Day performance against Blackpool and with injuries and suspensions he moved quickly to sign the Slovakian on a month's loan from Sunderland.

Varga was in his second spell at the Stadium of Light although it hadn't been quite the same as the first time round when he became an instant hero after a debut against Arsenal, the very team he would start his Burnley career against.

Peter Reid took him to Sunderland in the summer of 2000 from Slovan Bratislava where he'd been for two years after signing from his first club Tatran Prešov. The acclaim was immediate with that first performance against Arsenal but the Wearside fans were brought back to earth four days later when he and the Sunderland defence were given a torrid time as they conceded four goals at Manchester City.

In truth he never really established himself as a first team regular at Sunderland, although his time there was interrupted by a long term injury, and he even spent a month out on loan at West Brom at the end of the 2001/02 season as they completed a promotion to the Premiership. With Peter Reid gone early in the 2002/03 season his future was soon to be away from Sunderland. He was released in January 2003 and signed for Celtic a month later on a deal until the end of the season.

Although he played only twice he did enough to convince Martin O'Neill to offer him a two year deal and such was his form that was extended by another two years. He found his top form for the next two years and was a permanent fixture in a side that won a number of honours. He even scored a few goals including one against AC Milan in the San Siro.

With a change of manager in the summer of 2005 however came a change of fortune and he was never able to establish himself in Gordon Strachan's side although he did win his place back in the latter weeks of the 2005/06 season.

However, in August 2006, he was on the way back to Sunderland on the last day of the transfer window as new manager Roy Keane made no fewer than six signings on the same day. For the next four months he partnered Steven Caldwell in the centre of defence as Sunderland recovered from a shocking start and headed towards the top of the league.

Then things changed as Keane sold Caldwell to Burnley and left Varga on the sidelines as they headed for the title. He didn't play a single game after the first week in February. With promotion gained he was still on the sidelines and when Owen Coyle came in to give him a debut against Arsenal in our FA Cup tie it was Varga's first game for over eleven months.

Coyle was impressed with his early form and soon extended the initial one month loan to run until the end of the season. He had some good games and some not so good as we continued to shuffle our defence to find a winning formula.

An injury early in the defeat at Plymouth in February saw him substituted and he missed the next three games. The diagnosis was a foot injury but he returned for the away game at Stoke where he was horribly at fault for letting the ball go through prior to the late penalty. He played the next two games before again being ruled out with the injury.

He'd had injections but when they failed to remedy the problem he was booked in for surgery and his season was at an end. Besides the cup tie against Arsenal he'd played in ten league games for us but he'd also missed another ten because of the injury.

He returned to the Stadium of Light at the end of the season and was released by Keane less than two years after becoming one of his original signings.