diff --git a/go/test/endtoend/vtgate/setstatement/sysvar_test.go b/go/test/endtoend/vtgate/setstatement/sysvar_test.go
index afc0f7e7e88..51b17640885 100644
--- a/go/test/endtoend/vtgate/setstatement/sysvar_test.go
+++ b/go/test/endtoend/vtgate/setstatement/sysvar_test.go
@@ -62,6 +62,14 @@ func TestSetSysVar(t *testing.T) {
 		name:     "default_storage_engine",
 		expr:     "INNODB",
 		expected: `[[VARCHAR("InnoDB")]]`,
+	}, {
+		name:     "character_set_client",
+		expr:     "utf8",
+		expected: `[[VARCHAR("utf8")]]`,
+	}, {
+		name:     "character_set_client", // ignored so will keep the actual value
+		expr:     "@charvar",
+		expected: `[[VARCHAR("utf8")]]`,
 	}, {
 		name:     "sql_mode",
 		expr:     "''",
diff --git a/go/vt/vtgate/executor_set_test.go b/go/vt/vtgate/executor_set_test.go
index b77c12f6b37..ed4f72547f7 100644
--- a/go/vt/vtgate/executor_set_test.go
+++ b/go/vt/vtgate/executor_set_test.go
@@ -179,24 +179,6 @@ func TestExecutorSet(t *testing.T) {
 	}, {
 		in:  "set autocommit = 1+1",
 		err: "invalid syntax: 1 + 1",
-	}, {
-		in:  "set character_set_results=null",
-		out: &vtgatepb.Session{Autocommit: true},
-	}, {
-		in:  "set character_set_results='binary'",
-		out: &vtgatepb.Session{Autocommit: true},
-	}, {
-		in:  "set character_set_results='utf8'",
-		out: &vtgatepb.Session{Autocommit: true},
-	}, {
-		in:  "set character_set_results='utf8mb4'",
-		out: &vtgatepb.Session{Autocommit: true},
-	}, {
-		in:  "set character_set_results='latin1'",
-		out: &vtgatepb.Session{Autocommit: true},
-	}, {
-		in:  "set character_set_results='abcd'",
-		err: "disallowed value for character_set_results: abcd",
 	}, {
 		in:  "set foo = 1",
 		err: "unsupported construct: set foo = 1",
@@ -278,6 +260,13 @@ func TestExecutorSetOp(t *testing.T) {
 		sqltypes.MakeTestResult(sqltypes.MakeTestFields("unique_checks", "int64"), "0"),
 		sqltypes.MakeTestResult(sqltypes.MakeTestFields("net_write_timeout", "int64"), "600"),
 		sqltypes.MakeTestResult(sqltypes.MakeTestFields("net_read_timeout", "int64"), "300"),
+		sqltypes.MakeTestResult(sqltypes.MakeTestFields("character_set_client", "varchar"), "utf8"),
+		sqltypes.MakeTestResult(sqltypes.MakeTestFields("character_set_results", "varchar")),
+		sqltypes.MakeTestResult(sqltypes.MakeTestFields("character_set_results", "varchar")),
+		sqltypes.MakeTestResult(sqltypes.MakeTestFields("character_set_results", "varchar")),
+		sqltypes.MakeTestResult(sqltypes.MakeTestFields("character_set_results", "varchar")),
+		sqltypes.MakeTestResult(sqltypes.MakeTestFields("character_set_results", "varchar")),
+		sqltypes.MakeTestResult(sqltypes.MakeTestFields("character_set_results", "varchar")),
 	})
 
 	testcases := []struct {
@@ -307,6 +296,20 @@ func TestExecutorSetOp(t *testing.T) {
 		in: "set net_write_timeout = 600",
 	}, {
 		in: "set net_read_timeout = 600",
+	}, {
+		in: "set character_set_client = utf8",
+	}, {
+		in: "set character_set_results=null",
+	}, {
+		in: "set character_set_results='binary'",
+	}, {
+		in: "set character_set_results='utf8'",
+	}, {
+		in: "set character_set_results=utf8mb4",
+	}, {
+		in: "set character_set_results='latin1'",
+	}, {
+		in: "set character_set_results='abcd'",
 	}}
 	for _, tcase := range testcases {
 		t.Run(tcase.in, func(t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/go/vt/vtgate/planbuilder/set.go b/go/vt/vtgate/planbuilder/set.go
index 8800df00784..fe8f75cb665 100644
--- a/go/vt/vtgate/planbuilder/set.go
+++ b/go/vt/vtgate/planbuilder/set.go
@@ -160,6 +160,7 @@ var checkAndIgnore = []string{
 	"character_set_connection",
 	"character_set_database",
 	"character_set_filesystem",
+	"character_set_results",
 	"character_set_server",
 	"collation_connection",
 	"collation_database",
@@ -310,12 +311,9 @@ func buildNotSupported(e *sqlparser.SetExpr, _ ContextVSchema) (engine.SetOp, er
 }
 
 func buildSetOpIgnore(expr *sqlparser.SetExpr, _ ContextVSchema) (engine.SetOp, error) {
-	buf := sqlparser.NewTrackedBuffer(nil)
-	buf.Myprintf("%v", expr.Expr)
-
 	return &engine.SysVarIgnore{
 		Name: expr.Name.Lowered(),
-		Expr: buf.String(),
+		Expr: extractValue(expr),
 	}, nil
 }
 
@@ -329,7 +327,7 @@ func buildSetOpCheckAndIgnore(expr *sqlparser.SetExpr, vschema ContextVSchema) (
 		Name:              expr.Name.Lowered(),
 		Keyspace:          keyspace,
 		TargetDestination: dest,
-		Expr:              sqlparser.String(expr.Expr),
+		Expr:              extractValue(expr),
 	}, nil
 }
 
@@ -360,7 +358,7 @@ func buildSetOpVarSet(expr *sqlparser.SetExpr, vschema ContextVSchema) (engine.S
 		Name:              expr.Name.Lowered(),
 		Keyspace:          ks,
 		TargetDestination: vschema.Destination(),
-		Expr:              sqlparser.String(expr.Expr),
+		Expr:              extractValue(expr),
 	}, nil
 }
 
@@ -377,6 +375,17 @@ func resolveDestination(vschema ContextVSchema) (*vindexes.Keyspace, key.Destina
 	return keyspace, dest, nil
 }
 
+func extractValue(expr *sqlparser.SetExpr) string {
+	value := sqlparser.String(expr.Expr)
+	switch colname := expr.Expr.(type) {
+	case *sqlparser.ColName:
+		if colname.Name.AtCount() == sqlparser.NoAt {
+			value = fmt.Sprintf("'%s'", value)
+		}
+	}
+	return value
+}
+
 // whitelist of functions knows to be safe to pass through to mysql for evaluation
 // this list tries to not include functions that might return different results on different tablets
 var validFuncs = map[string]interface{}{