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2023-24 Performances

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5.8 Season Average Rating
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MyOnlySolskjaer

Creator of Player Performance threads
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Full Name: Raphaël Xavier Varane
Date of birth: Apr 25, 1993
Nationality: France
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Other Nationalities: Martinique
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Height: 191cm
Position: Defender - Centre-Back
Foot: Right
Squad Number: #19
Player Agent: CAA Base Ltd
Joined: 14 August 2021
Contract Expires: 30 June 2025
Outfitter: Puma​
 
How will our second best centre back fare this season? Hopefully he can remain fit and keep up performances from last season.
 
If he can stay healthy he can easily play for another 4-5 years together with Martinez, he has the speed, reading the game great, calm, good in the air, strong, leader - still of the best defenders and big reason why we had great defense (probably least concede goal per games in Europe if we did not mess up the 7, 6 and 4 goals against city, liverpool and Brentford). Also a big reason Martinez could get a good start even though the 2 first games when everybody was writing him of claiming he was way to short to make it in the Premie League. Those two will be even better this season with Onana in goal since they both are great ball handlers and can easy pass through pressing without just shooting away the ball. Having Casemiro in front of them helps also.
 
I'm hopeful that his decision to finish his international career right after the World Cup will result in him not missing as many games as he did last two seasons. EtH still probably needs to manage his workload a bit much hopefully not as much as in the past. Sure he's 30 and has a lot of mileage in his body, but I'd love to see at least one healthy season from him before we inevitably have to replace him.
 
top1whoisman said:
I'm hopeful that his decision to finish his international career right after the World Cup will result in him not missing as many games as he did last two seasons. EtH still probably needs to manage his workload a bit much hopefully not as much as in the past. Sure he's 30 and has a lot of mileage in his body, but I'd love to see at least one healthy season from him before we inevitably have to replace him.
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For someone like him who can easily feature in another Euro (and even winning it) to retire from NT so early, it has to be related to fitness and not a decision he's taken lightly. And it's not about competitions either, when it comes into NT there are too many meaningless friendlies that require players to fly all around. Perhaps it's a bit too hopeful to expect him to never get injured for a whole season considering his history. However by reducing the amount of games and traveling, he has effectively reduced the chance of him getting injured so yeah it has to happen... playing more games. fingers crossed.
 
tenpoless said:
For someone like him who can easily feature in another Euro (and even winning it) to retire from NT so early, it has to be related to fitness and not a decision he's taken lightly. And it's not about competitions either, when it comes into NT there are too many meaningless friendlies that require players to fly all around. Perhaps it's a bit too hopeful to expect him to never get injured for a whole season considering his history. However by reducing the amount of games and traveling, he has effectively reduced the chance of him getting injured so yeah it has to happen... playing more games. fingers crossed.
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Yeap, very much this. And well, perhaps I should’ve said healthy-ish season :lol:
 
tenpoless said:
For someone like him who can easily feature in another Euro (and even winning it) to retire from NT so early, it has to be related to fitness and not a decision he's taken lightly. And it's not about competitions either, when it comes into NT there are too many meaningless friendlies that require players to fly all around. Perhaps it's a bit too hopeful to expect him to never get injured for a whole season considering his history. However by reducing the amount of games and traveling, he has effectively reduced the chance of him getting injured so yeah it has to happen... playing more games. fingers crossed.
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It was a good decision for United and hopefully also Varane.

I sometimes wonder if this is part of the negotiation between the club and the player if he is a bit older and/ or injury prone. Ibrahimovic retired from NT the same time he signed for United. Varane was already under contract but contract terms seem more flexible nowadays.
 
He might be retired from internationals but I have a feeling he'll be involved in the Olympics squad next summer.
 
Despite arriving to much fanfare, Varane has struggled to live up to expectation or indeed remain fit for any extended period of time. In two seasons at United, Varane has already missed 32 games (17 games in 21/22 and 15 games in 22/23). It means Varane has missed 30% of Man Utd's games since he joined the club. I expect to see him out with minor injuries from time to time this season.

We should be worried about his wavering fitness and next summer we should buy a world class centre-back to replace him.
 
I must admit that, although I don’t think it’s a real issue at the moment, that similar concerns have occurred to me too.

There were times even last season that quick players caught him one on one and I didn’t think that he would win the contest in those situations. I think he still has enough tactical nous to counter certain attackers but I do get nervous when quick teams break on us.

I’m hoping that it’s been the injuries and if he is free of them he can find his top form. Maybe save him and Eriksen for the top games.
 
red.knight said:
Despite arriving to much fanfare, Varane has struggled to live up to expectation
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He's been good to imperial when he's been available. His partnership with Licha has been transformative for us - and I don't know how anyone would be able to argue otherwise, with a serious face. I do agree he's struggled with fitness, but to say he has struggled to live up to expectation is a stretch.

anyway:

 
Was our best CB last season
 
TsuWave said:
He's been good to imperial when he's been available. His partnership with Licha has been transformative for us - and I don't know how anyone would be able to argue otherwise, with a serious face. I do agree he's struggled with fitness, but to say he has struggled to live up to expectation is a stretch.

anyway:

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So many good actions from Kobbie made it into that video too :drool:
 
mancan92 said:
He was our best pure defender.
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I disagree. Martinez was still better and I'd argue Shaw was also more solid over the course of the season too. Varane was good, but he makes far fewer mistakes because he's the most passive player in the backline. There's a reason that he's looked back to his best since Martinez arrived and that's because Martinez has put in consistently brilliant performances every time he's donned the shirt.
 
TrustInJanuzaj said:
I disagree. Martinez was still better and I'd argue Shaw was also more solid over the course of the season too. Varane was good, but he makes far fewer mistakes because he's the most passive player in the backline. There's a reason that he's looked back to his best since Martinez arrived and that's because Martinez has put in consistently brilliant performances every time he's donned the shirt.
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Varane is the organiser of the defence. He is the guy that allows Martínez to be aggressive. In pure defending terms he is immaculate. Martínez doesn't look good next to maguire we saw that. We also saw how good shaw looked next to guess who? Varane.
 
He needs to stay fit, we need him fit and in able to feature in as many games as possible especially in CL.
 
Borninthe80ts said:
I must admit that, although I don’t think it’s a real issue at the moment, that similar concerns have occurred to me too.

There were times even last season that quick players caught him one on one and I didn’t think that he would win the contest in those situations. I think he still has enough tactical nous to counter certain attackers but I do get nervous when quick teams break on us.

I’m hoping that it’s been the injuries and if he is free of them he can find his top form. Maybe save him and Eriksen for the top games.
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What? When did he ever lose a foot race? Son kicked the ball twenty yards ahead to run past and Varane jogged past him with ease. When he wants to, he is stupidly fast. He just looks cumbersome.
 
TrustInJanuzaj said:
I disagree. Martinez was still better and I'd argue Shaw was also more solid over the course of the season too. Varane was good, but he makes far fewer mistakes because he's the most passive player in the backline. There's a reason that he's looked back to his best since Martinez arrived and that's because Martinez has put in consistently brilliant performances every time he's donned the shirt.
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Martinez is debatable but there's no way Shaw was more solid. Shaw is just a decent defender now its everything else in his game that stands out.

Varane is the leader of the back four, reads the game the best and is by far the best in the air. He's our best defender quite clearly IMO but Licha's qualities are more important to our style of play. The only thing missing in Varane's game is his pace of before even though he's still our quickest defender and his awkwardness bringing the ball out of defence. He's top class at everything else.
 
TsuWave said:
He's been good to imperial when he's been available. His partnership with Licha has been transformative for us - and I don't know how anyone would be able to argue otherwise, with a serious face. I do agree he's struggled with fitness, but to say he has struggled to live up to expectation is a stretch.

anyway:

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No question Varane has been excellent alongside Licha but too many injuries for him already. Availability of our star players is key for our success. Bruno played the most minutes for any player last season and his availability makes him so important for the team. At this point in his career I don’t see Varane stay fit and give us full a season, United need a younger model as back up who's just as effective. Antonio Silva of Benfica?
 
Rossa said:
What? When did he ever lose a foot race? Son kicked the ball twenty yards ahead to run past and Varane jogged past him with ease. When he wants to, he is stupidly fast. He just looks cumbersome.
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I didn’t actually say that he lost a foot race and not sure why you mentioned Son. I can’t remember specific games from last season but even against Arsenal he was the last man against Ntekiah and I think if the ball was right he would have been caught out. ( midway through the first half). I would say it’s more dynamic movement, which maybe as you say is affected by appearing “cumbersome” but I was hoping it was recovering from his injuries and feeling comfortable.

As I said it’s not really an issue now, but considering his age and injury record I’d think managing his playing time is prudent.
 
Rossa said:
What? When did he ever lose a foot race? Son kicked the ball twenty yards ahead to run past and Varane jogged past him with ease. When he wants to, he is stupidly fast. He just looks cumbersome.
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To be fair, there was one or two times where he has looked a bit heavy footed in the pre-season games. I hope it's just fitness/condition issues but it's also something I've noticed too of late. He's very clearly not the same Varane of 5 years ago in terms of pace. I'm very happy with the rest of his game, including passing, aerially, leadership, positioning and actual defensive contributions but there have been times where he's not able to put the afterburners on or looked sharp on the turn. It's definitely a concern I have for the longer term.
 
I love Martinez but Varane is better still.

Varane starts for every team in the league.
 
Fitness is the only question mark. On the pitch he is superb, one of the very best defenders in the league
 
TrustInJanuzaj said:
There's a reason that he's looked back to his best since Martinez arrived and that's because Martinez has put in consistently brilliant performances every time he's donned the shirt.
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It's because he hasn't had to play next Maguire since.
 
red.knight said:
No question Varane has been excellent alongside Licha but too many injuries for him already. Availability of our star players is key for our success. Bruno played the most minutes for any player last season and his availability makes him so important for the team. At this point in his career I don’t see Varane stay fit and give us full a season, United need a younger model as back up who's just as effective. Antonio Silva of Benfica?
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I agree, we need to already be looking for Varane’s replacement. Adnan just created a thread on this young Ivorian CB at Sporting, he looks really good. Antonio Silva, as you mentioned, is another one who is ready to step in but he will probably cost more than Gvardiol because Benfica. One we should be watching is Sutalo, although he’s older at 23. He will probably be the most cost-efficient at the moment and we can take our time to let him settle in to PL football.
 
Borninthe80ts said:
I didn’t actually say that he lost a foot race and not sure why you mentioned Son. I can’t remember specific games from last season but even against Arsenal he was the last man against Ntekiah and I think if the ball was right he would have been caught out. ( midway through the first half). I would say it’s more dynamic movement, which maybe as you say is affected by appearing “cumbersome” but I was hoping it was recovering from his injuries and feeling comfortable.

As I said it’s not really an issue now, but considering his age and injury record I’d think managing his playing time is prudent.
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It was quoted by him that he played through some injuries in periods last season, so I too noticed that he looked a little clumsy moving at times, but when called upon, he showed great pace to get us out of situations. I do agree that if injuries continue, it may be a concern.
 
criticalanalysis said:
To be fair, there was one or two times where he has looked a bit heavy footed in the pre-season games. I hope it's just fitness/condition issues but it's also something I've noticed too of late. He's very clearly not the same Varane of 5 years ago in terms of pace. I'm very happy with the rest of his game, including passing, aerially, leadership, positioning and actual defensive contributions but there have been times where he's not able to put the afterburners on or looked sharp on the turn. It's definitely a concern I have for the longer term.
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He looks cumbersome and heavy footed from time to time, but when he wants to, he has serious pace to burn. Wasn't it Kroos who said no RM player was able to outpace him during their tenure at RM together? That was a few years ago, but he still shows his speed over distance when he has to. Smalling was similar in that he looked clumsy while moving, but he was deceptively fast. I think Varane's positioning, which is quite brilliant, also makes him run around less now than he used to when he was younger.
 
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