' Gary Medel '

34 Premier League appearances for Cardiff in 13/14: What’s Gary Medel up to these days?

By Luke Phelps

19/12/2019

Gary Medel played 34 Premier League games for Cardiff City in the 2013/14 season, winning over the hearts of many. But what’s he up to these days?

Malky McKay broke Cardiff’s transfer record to bring in Chilean international Gary Medel from Sevilla in August 2013, in a deal worth a reported £11 million.

Arguably the club’s first and last marquee signing to date, in the season that Medel spent in South Wales he became a cult hero at Cardiff but after relegation back down to Championship, he left for Inter Milan.

A fleeting visit from the ‘hardest Chilean to play in the Premier League’, but nonetheless a player who Bluebirds’ fans will have fond memories of.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer oversaw the sale of Medel to Inter in August 2014, where he spent the next three seasons and played over 100 games for the club.



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A move to Turkey with Besiktas in 2017 followed where he remained up until this season – he played a couple of games in this 2019/20 Turkish Super Lig campaign before moving back to Italy with Bologna.

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Once again playing in Serie A for Bologna, Medel shows no signs of slowing down at age 32.

He’s remained a prominent member of the Chilean national team too – he won the Copa America with Chile in 2015 and 2016 and in both tournaments, was named in the team of the tournament.

A classy footballer is Gary Medel, and one that both Cardiff and English Football fans would’ve loved to have seen a bit more of.

Freelance football journalist based in Sheffield. Postgraduate degree in Sports Journalism, and good experience in digital football writing and match reporting.

Saw him play for Inter Milan a few years ago now and he ozzed class and was one of the best players on the pitch.

I wonder what would be our chances of brining Medel back to Cardiff.

One of a long line of urban myths.

Medel garnered the nickname ‘el poodle’ when in English football as he was generally weak in the tackle and poor as a DMC. He had maybe 2 good games, the rest he was either distinctly average or very much below average. Cardiff fans wanted to celebrate him but he simply never gave a reason to, largely played like a player wanting to be elsewhere. Jordan Mutch was the star of that season but of course he wasn’t foreign, have a foreign name or a fanbase making excuses up for him every time he was poor. The derby defeat seemed to break him, Pablo Hernandez continually made him look slow, overweight and cumbersome, it showed he was not suited to English football. That’s the truth of the matter.

One of a long line of urban myths.

Medel garnered the nickname ‘el poodle’ when in English football as he was generally weak in the tackle and poor as a DMC. He had maybe 2 good games, the rest he was either distinctly average or very much below average. Cardiff fans wanted to celebrate him but he simply never gave a reason to, largely played like a player wanting to be elsewhere. Jordan Mutch was the star of that season but of course he wasn’t foreign, have a foreign name or a fanbase making excuses up for him every time he was poor. The derby defeat seemed to break him, Pablo Hernandez continually made him look slow, overweight and cumbersome, it showed he was not suited to English football. That’s the truth of the matter.

Deluded springs to mind
I suppose everyone is entitled to their opinion

One of a long line of urban myths.

Medel garnered the nickname ‘el poodle’ when in English football as he was generally weak in the tackle and poor as a DMC. He had maybe 2 good games, the rest he was either distinctly average or very much below average. Cardiff fans wanted to celebrate him but he simply never gave a reason to, largely played like a player wanting to be elsewhere. Jordan Mutch was the star of that season but of course he wasn’t foreign, have a foreign name or a fanbase making excuses up for him every time he was poor. The derby defeat seemed to break him, Pablo Hernandez continually made him look slow, overweight and cumbersome, it showed he was not suited to English football. That’s the truth of the matter.

you watched ALL of our games ?

One of a long line of urban myths.

Medal garnered the nickname ‘el poodle’ when in English football as he was generally weak in the tackle and poor as a DMC. He had maybe 2 good games, the rest he was either distinctly average or very much below average. Cardiff fans wanted to celebrate him but he simply never gave a reason to, largely played like a player wanting to be elsewhere. Jordan Mutch was the star of that season but of course he wasn’t foreign, have a foreign name or a fanbase making excuses up for him every time he was poor. The derby defeat seemed to break him, Pablo Hernandez continually made him look slow, overweight and cumbersome, it showed he was not suited to English football. That’s the truth of the matter.

Medal was an absolute rock. Protected us no end and hardly ever gave the ball away. As strong as anyone in the tackle and positionally superb. Quite possibly the most internationally successfully player ever to play for us.

Your commentary is so deluded you must aspire to WoL stardom

Medel was brilliant
He plays a position that never gets praise but without him we would have taken a few more hidings than we did.

Very underrated player

On another note I dont think Malkey new how to play him as he was 2 steps ahead of most of his team mates with his football brain

Medel was brilliant
He plays a position that never gets praise but without him we would have taken a few more hidings than we did.

Very underrated player

On another note I dont think Malkey new how to play him as he was 2 steps ahead of most of his team mates with his football brain

Completely agree

I love the selective memory on this forum. Solid? Brilliant? A Rock?

Jesus Christ

Bottom of the league, 30 points, 74 goals conceded. He was constantly bypassed to the point I believe the player of the season that year was David Marshall as he made save after save. Lost by a margin of 3 goals or more 9 (yes nine) times.

Had his name been Christopher Williams and a free transfer from Forest Green and played exactly the same way he would have been slated. The fanbase was desperate to get behind him, he gave zero reason for it so the fanbase happily pretended he did. I remember at the time people were saying he was playing well for the club and giving the reason that he played well for Chile.

I love the selective memory on this forum. Solid? Brilliant? A Rock?

Jesus Christ

Bottom of the league, 30 points, 74 goals conceded. He was constantly bypassed to the point I believe the player of the season that year was David Marshall as he made save after save. Lost by a margin of 3 goals or more 9 (yes nine) times.

Had his name been Christopher Williams and a free transfer from Forest Green and played exactly the same way he would have been slated. The fanbase was desperate to get behind him, he gave zero reason for it so the fanbase happily pretended he did. I remember at the time people were saying he was playing well for the club and giving the reason that he played well for Chile.

I meant to reply to your earlier post. You are absolutely right!
Cardiff fans were desperate for him to become a cult hero; he seemed to tick all the boxes prior to joining us.
However, he was slow, passed sideways or backwards, and we never got to see that famed aggression. He really did look like he was carrying a 'spare tyre' around his midriff, and never looked fully fit.

I love the selective memory on this forum. Solid? Brilliant? A Rock?

Jesus Christ

Bottom of the league, 30 points, 74 goals conceded. He was constantly bypassed to the point I believe the player of the season that year was David Marshall as he made save after save. Lost by a margin of 3 goals or more 9 (yes nine) times.

Had his name been Christopher Williams and a free transfer from Forest Green and played exactly the same way he would have been slated. The fanbase was desperate to get behind him, he gave zero reason for it so the fanbase happily pretended he did. I remember at the time people were saying he was playing well for the club and giving the reason that he played well for Chile.

I meant to reply to your earlier post. You are absolutely right!
Cardiff fans were desperate for him to become a cult hero; he seemed to tick all the boxes prior to joining us.
However, he was slow, passed sideways or backwards, and we never got to see that famed aggression. He really did look like he was carrying a 'spare tyre' around his midriff, and never looked fully fit.

Without question, you are spot on. With Chile he plays as a third CB, but he doesn’t have the physical attributes (height) to play there in English football, he would have got roasted more than he already was that season. So he was deployed as a DMC (a position often played for at club level) and looked completely lost with the pace of the league.

Fulham was the only game he seemed to get a handle on, the rest of the time he was treading water and often blowing out of his arse after an hour. His tackles per game stat was shocking considering the possession the opposition had on average and when he did get the ball from Marshall he gave it to one of the other defenders as soon as any pressure came onto him - happily transferring that pressure elsewhere, his average pass must have been about 4 yards... backwards - his actual key passes were next to non existent and the stats show that.

As you say, due to the stories about him prior to joining, people were desperate to make him a cult hero. But anyone pretending he was anything other than mediocre overall is lying to themselves to convince themselves of this myth - that tends to happen on here a lot.

The stats:-

Tackles per game - 2.3
Interceptions - 1.9 (So including tackles, that’s 4 defensive contributions in 90 mins in a season of near constant pressure, one defensive contribution every 25 mins or so).
Blocks - 0.3 (that’s one every 3 games)
Key passes - 0.2 (one offensive key pass every 5 games from central midfield)

I love the selective memory on this forum. Solid? Brilliant? A Rock?

Jesus Christ

Bottom of the league, 30 points, 74 goals conceded. He was constantly bypassed to the point I believe the player of the season that year was David Marshall as he made save after save. Lost by a margin of 3 goals or more 9 (yes nine) times.

Had his name been Christopher Williams and a free transfer from Forest Green and played exactly the same way he would have been slated. The fanbase was desperate to get behind him, he gave zero reason for it so the fanbase happily pretended he did. I remember at the time people were saying he was playing well for the club and giving the reason that he played well for Chile.

I meant to reply to your earlier post. You are absolutely right!
Cardiff fans were desperate for him to become a cult hero; he seemed to tick all the boxes prior to joining us.
However, he was slow, passed sideways or backwards, and we never got to see that famed aggression. He really did look like he was carrying a 'spare tyre' around his midriff, and never looked fully fit.

Without question, you are spot on. With Chile he plays as a third CB, but he doesn’t have the physical attributes (height) to play there in English football, he would have got roasted more than he already was that season. So he was deployed as a DMC (a position often played for at club level) and looked completely lost with the pace of the league.

Fulham was the only game he seemed to get a handle on, the rest of the time he was treading water and often blowing out of his arse after an hour. His tackles per game stat was shocking considering the possession the opposition had on average and when he did get the ball from Marshall he gave it to one of the other defenders as soon as any pressure came onto him - happily transferring that pressure elsewhere, his average pass must have been about 4 yards... backwards - his actual key passes were next to non existent and the stats show that.

As you say, due to the stories about him prior to joining, people were desperate to make him a cult hero. But anyone pretending he was anything other than mediocre overall is lying to themselves to convince themselves of this myth - that tends to happen on here a lot.

The stats:-

Tackles per game - 2.3
Interceptions - 1.9 (So including tackles, that’s 4 defensive contributions in 90 mins in a season of near constant pressure, one defensive contribution every 25 mins or so).
Blocks - 0.3 (that’s one every 3 games)
Key passes - 0.2 (one offensive key pass every 5 games from central midfield)

you claim to have watched us one hell of a lot...

Claim to?

The stats speak for themselves, I’m not saying anything the least bit controversial or anything that reality doesn’t agree with.

Put it this way, you would have a far tougher time showing how he was a success.