Camilo Vargas

Camilo Andrés Vargas Gil or just Camilo Vargas is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Colombian top flight club Deportivo Cali. He was born on 9 March 1989 in Bogota, Colombia. Vargas’s recent form has seen him being called up often to play for his national team, but has failed to replace primary goalkeeper David Ospina who remains Colombia’s no.1 choice.

Background

Vargas began his professional career at Independiente Santa Fe based in his hometown of Bogota. He played his initial years there before moving to a better club in Atletico Nacional. He is on loan at Deportivo Cali from Nacional.

Vargas has represented the following teams - Independiente Santa Fe, Atlético Nacional, Argentinos Juniors, Deportivo Cali, Colombia U20 and Colombia.

Debut

Vargas made his professional debut for Independiente Santa Fe in the 2009-10 season.

He made his international debut on 10 October 2014 against El Salvador which ended as a 3-0 win to Colombia.

Rise to Glory

Ever since moving to Atletico Nacional, Vargas has impressed with his performances on loan to Argentinos Juniors and Deportivo Cali. This effected a call up to the national team, but he did not get a chance to start a lot of matches and was on the bench. He was backup to primary goalkeeper David Ospina.

Vargas was a part of the Colombian U20 side where he played 5 games and kept 3 clean sheets. He then had to settle for club football for a few years before his call up. He has played only 4 games for Colombia so far and all of them have been friendlies. He was a part of the 2014 FIFA World squad.

Club Career

Vargas played over a 146 games for his first club and won four trophies with them. He was the first choice goalkeeper in almost every game beginning 2009. Over his four year career at the club, he won the league twice in 2012-13 and 2014-15, the Copa Colombia once in 2009 and the Superliga Colombiana in 2013. He also managed to score 2 goals both coming from headers in set pieces.

Vargas moved to Atletico Nacional in 2015 and stayed there only for a season before being sent out on loan to Argentinos Juniors in Argentina. He played just six games and returned to Atletico Nacional only to be sent out on loan to Deportivo Cali in the 2016-17 season. He has played only 18 games for Nacional so far.

The loan move to Deportivo Cali proved to be quite successful for him as he played 37 league games in just the one season he stayed there. He is currently on loan at Deportivo Cali which is his second loan move in just 2 years. He has played only 6 games in the current season so far.