Gilson Monteiro Varela da Silva, known as Gilson (born 12 May 1990) is a Cape Verdean football player who plays for União Santarém.
He made his professional debut in the Segunda Liga for Oriental on 15 August 2015 in a game against Vitória Guimarães B.
On 11 July 2018, Varela signed with Bulgarian club Etar.
Varela made his debut for the Cape Verde national football team in a 2-0 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification loss to Tanzania on 16 October 2018.