Raphael Varane image 19

Raphael Varane France flag

2023-24 Performances

View full 2023-24 profile

5.8 Season Average Rating
Appearances
32
Clean sheets
12
Goals
1
Assists
0
Yellow cards
2
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Him and Casimero to leave in Jan. Both past their best and needs to move on.
 
I’d imagine he’s still not fully fit because it cannot be a tactical decision.
 
He likes Evans on the left and Maguire deserves to keep his place, it's not that much of a surprise he's benched.
 
I really hope the Saudis do us a favor with this guy, regardless of what happens with Ten Hag. His fitness issues combined with his poor ball-playing abilities and his wages (and his age), I think the smart decision would be to move him on if possible.
 
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This is a strange situation. I guess there are four options it could be.

1. ETH feels Varane and Maguire can't play together, and since Maguire was arguably our best player last month (albeit that was a very low bar) he gets the nod.
2. Varane does have a small knock/illness, where he's fit enough to be on the bench but we're preferring to get him back to 100% if possible before we use him.
3. Varane has had an offer from Saudi or something, and has told ETH he wants to leave in January so ETH is using our other options ahead of him.
4. There has been some kind of general issue between Varane and ETH, although with ETH's track record you would think he'd drop Varane entirely if that were the case.
 
MadDogg said:
This is a strange situation. I guess there are four options it could be.

1. ETH feels Varane and Maguire can't play together, and since Maguire was arguably our best player last month (albeit that was a very low bar) he gets the nod.
2. Varane does have a small knock/illness, where he's fit enough to be on the bench but we're preferring to get him back to 100% if possible before we use him.
3. Varane has had an offer from Saudi or something, and has told ETH he wants to leave in January so ETH is using our other options ahead of him.
4. There has been some kind of general issue between Varane and ETH, although with ETH's track record you would think he'd drop Varane entirely if that were the case.
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i hope its option3
 
Prodigy24 said:
He's been better than Varane so far this season.
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Easily.

You can't build a reliable defence around a player that can't player 2 games in a row. So what if he won some trophies years ago when he still had pace.
 
MadDogg said:
This is a strange situation. I guess there are four options it could be.

1. ETH feels Varane and Maguire can't play together, and since Maguire was arguably our best player last month (albeit that was a very low bar) he gets the nod.
2. Varane does have a small knock/illness, where he's fit enough to be on the bench but we're preferring to get him back to 100% if possible before we use him.
3. Varane has had an offer from Saudi or something, and has told ETH he wants to leave in January so ETH is using our other options ahead of him.
4. There has been some kind of general issue between Varane and ETH, although with ETH's track record you would think he'd drop Varane entirely if that were the case.
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It's 1 and there's no doubt about it. Don't think it's anything personal. Maguire has been playing well so he's getting the nod however he's strictly a RCB for EtH. So is Varane. Martinez is LCB nr 1. Evans gets the nod there because he's basically two footed.

I think it's purely tactical.
 
HookedOnAPhelan said:
I really hope the Saudis do us a favor with this guy, regardless of what happens with Ten Hag. His fitness issues combined with his poor ball-playing abilities and his wages (and his age), I think the smart decision would be to move him on if possible.
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Hehe - 4x CL winning and WC winning CB doesn't have enough ball playing ability for Manchester United's shit on a stick midtable football
 
Leftback99 said:
Varane is overrated.
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This is true. When he leaves, he should be remembered as a poor player for us. What he did with Madrid and France has no meaning here. With that said, he shouldn't be behind Evans in the pecking order. Evans wasn't good enough for us a decade ago, never mind now.
 
RedUnited86 said:
And here we are with a team of McTominay, Bruno and Antony. I'm sure Casemiro would have been selected if fit too.
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Dropping somebody who is playing poorly only works if you can bring in somebody who is playing better, and we really don't have that for Bruno and Antony. McTominay is a very different story though and it's somewhat of a joke how that 10 minute sub appearance seems to have cemented his spot in the team.
 
PlayerOne said:
He was one of our best players last season and was a major reason for our good form. Don't let a manager with a personal issue with the player fool you
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Is there proof of this or is it just speculation? Interesting as Varane has been poor in his recent appearances. I know we want the manager to ditch the dross so I would have thought that supporters would be happy with benching him.
 
If it is not an injury that he's carrying then I don't know why he isn't getting into the team ahead of Maguire. I suspect ETH wants one stopper who dashes out of defense and either wins the ball or delays the opposition and Maguire has done more of that lately (to very varying effect) and you can rely on him being fit to play. Other than that what Varane offers is really what Maguire can't offer, which is not taking minimum 3-4 touches on the ball every single time he gets it which absolutely kills our build up play and Varane, like Martinez, can actually release the ball whilst moving, he has a lovely way of passing the ball in his step.

We of course desperately need an understudy to Varane (or someone to take his place if his fitness doesn't somehow miraculously improve) but as much as I am happy for Maguire not being shit recently, he still tactically kills our game.
 
Bastian said:
If it is not an injury that he's carrying then I don't know why he isn't getting into the team ahead of Maguire. I suspect ETH wants one stopper who dashes out of defense and either wins the ball or delays the opposition and Maguire has done more of that lately (to very varying effect) and you can rely on him being fit to play. Other than that what Varane offers is really what Maguire can't offer, which is not taking minimum 3-4 touches on the ball every single time he gets it which absolutely kills our build up play and Varane, like Martinez, can actually release the ball whilst moving, he has a lovely way of passing the ball in his step.

We of course desperately need an understudy to Varane (or someone to take his place if his fitness doesn't somehow miraculously improve) but as much as I am happy for Maguire not being shit recently, he still tactically kills our game.
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Because he's fallen off a cliff physically. Not sure what you mean re passing, probably the area I'd say I have been least impressed with Varane, other than fitness.

Club needs a new strategy and young blood to build towards something, both Varane and Case were great last year and should be moved on asap whilst any shred of value remains.
 
The team has had such a naff season so far, no player can go knocking on the managers door.

Varane hasn't been the worst but he hasn't been great either. The difference is marginal.
 
It’d be brutal to ditch Maguire when he’s playing ok, considering he’s kind of mentally recovering. ETH doesn’t like any of the two to the left, but it’s still hard to see how Evans plays ahead of Varane if there isn’t something going on behind the scene.
 
Saving Champions League Varane for the Champions League could work I guess.
 
tomaldinho1 said:
Because he's fallen off a cliff physically. Not sure what you mean re passing, probably the area I'd say I have been least impressed with Varane, other than fitness.

Club needs a new strategy and young blood to build towards something, both Varane and Case were great last year and should be moved on asap whilst any shred of value remains.
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He doesn’t have Maguire’s range of passing but he’s very two footed and releases the ball quickly. Which definitely makes us a little more fluid when he starts.
 
I suppose we didn’t have the money but we needed a CB in the summer. I think it wasn’t difficult to foresee multiple Varane absences. Martinez was actually injured at the time so there must have been reasonable doubt that he would be fit and ever-present.

So it was never that unlikely that our top two guys would be out at the same time.
 
tomaldinho1 said:
Because he's fallen off a cliff physically. Not sure what you mean re passing, probably the area I'd say I have been least impressed with Varane, other than fitness.

Club needs a new strategy and young blood to build towards something, both Varane and Case were great last year and should be moved on asap whilst any shred of value remains.
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Two words: Tempo. Movement.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
He doesn’t have Maguire’s range of passing but he’s very two footed and releases the ball quickly. Which definitely makes us a little more fluid when he starts.
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I thought that last season but this season I thought he was looking almost Smalling-esque in that way he was turning his body before passing sometimes. Granted he's not been fit but RCB is probably one of the most pressing areas we need to strengthen which is a bit sad when you think of his profile and he's not that old.

Bastian said:
Two words: Tempo. Movement.
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You're going to have to elaborate if you want any kind of response.
 
AFC NimbleThumb said:
This is how football manager works.

I agree in selling them both btw but fans obsession with banding round figures like the marketplace isn’t an absolute lottery needs to end.

We bought Mason Mount for £55mil in a Summer that Liverpool got Macallister & Gravenberch for circa £65mil - we simply need to operate smarter not jiggle the filters to 5* prospects only. There is value in the market.
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Only if player want to play for united not for exuberant wages, we are targeting the wrong profile of players !
 
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