Professional athletes don't come much more tattooed than footballers.
Tattooed players are probably more common nowadays than those who remain blank canvases and it's just something that managers have to come to terms with.
We seldom hear of problems arising from players deciding to get inked up but we got a humdinger of an example last week, courtesy of Manchester United loanee Guillermo Varela.
Varela, who spent the last season on loan with Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt, decided to visit his tattoo artist ahead of Saturdays' DFB Pokal final against Borussia Dortmund.
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It all went tits up from there.
According to Eintracht, Varela disobeyed the club's wishes in getting the tattoo, which reportedly became inflamed and infected.
The full-back was immediately suspended and, amid reports that the club wanted to sign Varela to a longer deal this summer, it was announced that the offer was off the table.
"The club cannot tolerate that a player would defy instructions. He hurt the team," said Eintracht Frankfurt's Sporting Executive, Fredi Bobic.
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"There was redness around where he had the tattoo, and blisters formed meaning he was unable to train. We'd been thinking about a loan extension. But that won't happen. He'll be suspended with immediate effect."
The game ended 2-1 in favour of Dortmund and Varela has since come out and criticised the way he was treated by his club.
"My name is polluted," he told
told Sueddeutsche Zeitung, via
Manchester Evening News. "I wonder what Real Madrid should do with Sergio Ramos, who is tattooing every week.
"I cannot explain why I'm being so severely punished, and I'm not the only Eintracht professional to get a tattoo before the final, but only I was nailed to the cross for going against the manager.
"Before the 2016 FA Cup final, we went out with several players and got a tattoo, and then we won. Now I wanted to repeat that because it brought us so much luck with Manchester."
