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
Status
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It's clear the injuries are affecting his form, he looks nowhere near his best. I know he has a lot of miles on the clock but IF he can get some consistency I believe he can still be our best pure defender. Whether his body is still up to it though is the question.

A ball playing defender he'll never be though. As others have said it did surprise me quite how awkward he looks on the ball.
 
flameinthesun said:
He is very poor technically on the ball which surprised me. I remember his first match for us and thinking....he looked as awkard as smalling.... I'd say the only difference technically between the two is Varane can use his left foot. Its another limitation for us playing out from the back. He's just not comfortable being adventurous with his passing or receiving the ball in tight spaces.
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You're right on this.

Overall he was average and might have done better on the goal. And he's our least comfortable on the ball CB. Smalling actually has better defensive instincts

So why all the hype in Varane's career? Youth. He went to Madrid as a young player and did well for his age. Then when he got to his prime years they sold him
 
I like him and respect what he's achieved at Real Madrid and all but based on his performances for Manchester United, his three years at the club....he is easily the most overrated player in the squad imo.

When he has been fit most of performances have ranged from ok to meh to poor for me. Not exactly world class.
 
Ekeke said:
You're right on this.

Overall he was average and might have done better on the goal. And he's our least comfortable on the ball CB. Smalling actually has better defensive instincts

So why all the hype in Varane's career? Youth. He went to Madrid as a young player and did well for his age. Then when he got to his prime years they sold him
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Very unfair characterization of Varane's career, he is indeed is the least comfortable on the ball even in his days at Madrid but he had the likes of Casillias, Curtoius, Marcelo, Carvajal, Ramos, Kroos and Modric around him who were/are superb on the ball which meant he could do less with the ball and more off it defensive wise.

I think his main issue is the constant injuries that fecked him up
 
His contract ends this summer. We must let him go. Hope the new Sporting Director is in place so that we can have a clean, professional break.
 
the 3rd Wolves goal Varane should defend better, he is just not aggressive enough to close down Neto but keep drawing back, letting him too much room to place a comfortable shooting angle at goal
 
Varane was 100% at fault for the first goal, he just stood there doing nothing while Neto had the ball in right front of him and allowed him all the time and space he needed to cut inside and fire a shot in to the goal that Onana had no chance of saving.
 
Deserves to loose his place today, would be better if we were replacing him with Kim Min Jae like Ten Hag wanted
 
I'm a huge Varane fan but he's been poor this season and deserves to be dropped
 
It’s a classic case of Man Utd shocking management. Madrid got rid when they realised he was still a top player but very quickly his performances would drop over the next year or two, and we signed him thinking we’d get a player who’d transform our squad - same can be said for Casemiro. Both had another year at the top but that was all they had left at the elite level

I don’t think we’ll be seeing signings like this under the new ownership and management
 
Aston Villa 1:2 Man Utd
Apparently he ran over to Luiz as we were celebrating the winner. Need a video.
 
Luton Town 1:2 Man Utd
Thought he was our best defender today (Evans did really well when he came on too to be fair).
 
Irwin99 said:
Thought he was our best defender today (Evans did really well when he came on too to be fair).
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Definitely our best defender at defending, however, he is one of the key reasons we can't play through teams. His ball playing ability is beyond a joke to the point I think Smalling may actually be better on the ball than him.
 
Was solid today. Wins so much in the air. I believe they said before the match that he’s won the highest percentage (90%) of aerial duels in the PL league this season.
 
Red & White said:
Was solid today. Wins so much in the air. I believe they said before the match that he’s won the highest percentage (90%) of aerial duels in the PL league this season.
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That's an insane stat.

flameinthesun said:
Definitely our best defender at defending, however, he is one of the key reasons we can't play through teams. His ball playing ability is beyond a joke to the point I think Smalling may actually be better on the ball than him.
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He looks massively awkward but he's not that bad on it. The issue is the lack of structure and passing options when we do try to play it out from the back. It's asks A LOT of the individual player on their touch, ball carrying and composure to even receive a pass when being pressed. We make it way harder than it needs to be.
 
Red & White said:
Was solid today. Wins so much in the air. I believe they said before the match that he’s won the highest percentage (90%) of aerial duels in the PL league this season.
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Didn't know or expect that. That's great. I really like the player and he seems to bring a certain calmness at the back.
 
flameinthesun said:
Definitely our best defender at defending, however, he is one of the key reasons we can't play through teams. His ball playing ability is beyond a joke to the point I think Smalling may actually be better on the ball than him.
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You mean in terms of progressive/forward passes? Because his pass accuracy is very high- 89% this season apparently. Obviously he's nowhere near as good as Martinez but i don't recall him wasting the ball too much even if its a bit limited.
 
Irwin99 said:
You mean in terms of progressive/forward passes? Because his pass accuracy is very high- 89% this season apparently. Obviously he's nowhere near as good as Martinez but i don't recall him wasting the ball too much even if its a bit limited.
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I counted at least 3 instances in the 2nd half where we worked the ball well, taking out their press with him in space on the right side. He closed his body and passed it back to the keeper. So frustrating and we need to start the build up again.
 
He excels at cutting out those crosses at the near post. Need him to stay fit for the rest of the season really.
 
I never doubt his quality. Only his ability to stay fit.
 
Irwin99 said:
You mean in terms of progressive/forward passes? Because his pass accuracy is very high- 89% this season apparently. Obviously he's nowhere near as good as Martinez but i don't recall him wasting the ball too much even if its a bit limited.
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In terms of comfortability on the ball and adventurous passing. This tactic requires the CBs to be comfortable pushing the ball through the lines as well as taking the ball under pressure. Martinez does it wonderfully and when you watch the 2019 Ajax team both Blind and De Ligt can do it (De Ligt less so but still better than Varane). If Varane is given time and space he can do basic passing passing but when put under pressure he's very awkward and clearly doesn't have confidence in his technical ability to pass through the lines. Thats not saying he's terrible on the ball, just that this style requires much better on the ball. When he and Casemiro are in the team they are weaknesses in this style when the game is tight or requres intricate passing.
 
Remember when we signed him and some pundits were saying he'll be in for a shock as Spanish teams rarely cross the ball :lol:
 
flameinthesun said:
Definitely our best defender at defending, however, he is one of the key reasons we can't play through teams. His ball playing ability is beyond a joke to the point I think Smalling may actually be better on the ball than him.
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Really? because I'm sure most people here hated Smalling because he couldn't do shit with the ball.
 
tenpoless said:
Really? because I'm sure most people here hated Smalling because he couldn't do shit with the ball.
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Exactly... What I will give Varane is he is more comfortable playing with his left foot, but from Varanes very first game it immediately stood out just how basic he is on the ball.
 
His aerial duel win-rate is amazing (90%)....Van Dijk has 83% and all others are below 78%.

A shame he has always a few knocks because otherwise he would have been a great signing....of course a few years too late but he had also of course no reason to leave Real Madrid.
 
BabySinclair said:
His aerial duel win-rate is amazing (90%)....Van Dijk has 83% and all others are below 78%.

A shame he has always a few knocks because otherwise he would have been a great signing....of course a few years too late but he had also of course no reason to leave Real Madrid.
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It’s a good stat but it’s also because he challenges very seldom. You can’t really compare that stat alone with van Dijk who has won 102 aerial duels this season and Varane only 19.
Varane has won 1.7 per 90 and van Dijk 4.6.
 
Man Utd 1:2 Fulham
His ability on the ball is very considering the type of football we want to play, needs to be moved on.
 
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