Raphael Varane image 19

Raphael Varane France flag

2023-24 Performances

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5.8 Season Average Rating
Appearances
32
Clean sheets
12
Goals
1
Assists
0
Yellow cards
2
Status
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huyn said:
Outside of his obvious qualities as a CB, I think the most important thing Varane brings to your team is defensive leadership.

You see when he's playing, he's always talking to his teammates, pointing left and right to position them correctly. He makes everyone calm and they know where to focus, and none of your other defensive guys seem to be able to do that so when he's missing it shows.

That's why he is such a good partner to aggressive CBs like Pepe, Ramos, pre-injury Umtiti or Lisandro, because those guys like to go after the opponent and they know with Varane they'll always have cover instead of leaving a hole in the middle of your centre defence. Lisandro, Casemiro, Maguire, or Dalot always seem to play better with Varane around.

I understand why some people think about replacing him because of his injuries (weirldy enough he was never injury prone before joining Man Utd) but if you do that you need to pick a leader, not just a good CB.
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El Jefe said:
I’ve said it for a while now, he should have been the captain and is the real leader of this team. Just a shame he breaks down twice a season.

He’s commanding but more importantly he’s calm. There’s been a lot of talk about cutback goals but he’s probably as good as anyone at intercepting them.
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Kag said:
When fit, I think he’s the most important first team player by a county mile.
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I've been thinking about this since April/May and I think all of you are absolutely correct. Varane is extremely important to Manchester United, at least as important as Casemiro(shielding the defense) and Rashford(reliable goal threat/danger), if not more. I would take him as a captain over Bruno easily, but his unreliableness due to being injure prone is the only reason why he can't be the captain. Phenomenal player, with a pedigree that very few footballers in the history of football have. And, I think a pretty good person as well.

I remember, somewhere towards the end of last season, our top 4 aspirations were in danger when Varane(and Licha) were injured. Disappointing draw with Tottenham(after leading 2-0), lost to Brighton, West Ham. Liverpool were breathing at out necks at 5th place for UCL place. Then, what happens?

Varane suddenly returns and we have 4 wins in a row - Wolves, Bournemouth, Chelsea, Fulham, thus securing 3rd place and UCL football. Conceding just two goals in process which didn't have any relevance really(one of them was Joao Felix while we were leading 4-0 against Chelsea and already secured UCL, basically). I can't recall if Varane was even present on the pitch really for both of these goals.

In conclusion, we can have(already do) many problems with injuries, but having Varane back on the pitch is maybe the most important presence of them all. World class defender, leader and winner who's won it all in his career(UCL, La Liga, World Cup). Only PL trophy is missing(and he's almost certainly never getting it with us, unfortunately), but it's not that important, he's spent majority of his career at Real Madrid, after all.
 
At least he made it thru the game with no injury. He goes down we honestly are prob in relegation battle
 
I think, he was the only player who looked really good today. Really need him to stay fit.
 
Big Andy said:
He was, but he turns back on himself too much, a few times today he could've gone forward but instead turned round and passed backwards.
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It’s strange with all the sideways and backwards passing, but it’s not only him. Also Lindelof and Martinez have been less adventurous on the ball this season. I don’t know if it is instructions or the way we set up.
 
Man Utd 2:3 Galatasaray
You know out of everyone tonight I think Varane was up there as the worst. I know one or two others will grab the headlines as shittest but right from the start he was switched off. Caused so many problems for us.
 
Provably the worst I've ever seen him play.

Him on the ball tonight makes Smalling look like Baresi by comparison.
 
He is not good enough, too old and his legs are gone. We have signed poorly.
 
He's a bit of a bluffer of a CB. What defending does he actually do? He's like a poor man's Rio Ferdinand. Looks like a Rolls Royce but there's an old Fiat engine under the bonnet.
 
Gets let off on here far too often. He's not that good, our standards are just low and he had a reasonable partnership with Lisandro last season. He and Lindelof dont look to have a reasonable partnership and individually they are on a pretty average level for defenders
 
Is he fit? He was supposed to be out for longer originally but after the injury to Martinez he was suddenly back in the first 11.
 
Don't sign declining stars who have been hard used and won a lot at their previous clubs, especially not injury prone players.
 
Take the money from Saudi Arabia as soon as we can, his best days were gone before we signed him.
 
He's been shit. Lets be honest. The system is shit for asking him to do so much on the ball, but he's been bad off it too.
 
Overrated and always injured, we're bad with him and without him. He's been getting a free pass for ages, but he can't now.
 
Bobski said:
Don't sign declining stars who have been hard used and won a lot at their previous clubs, especially not injury prone players.
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What's mad is he was 28 when we signed him, he should still be in his peak at 30.
 
Won't overreact, he has put in some very good performances for the team, but not tonight. Succession planning should have been done in the summer, but that's accelerating to replacement in the next window.
 
Europe league varane....

One we gotta replace with better next summer but we won't and instead we will leave it too late but then replace him with somebody that's 29
 
Bobski said:
Yet Madrid were happy to let him go
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Indeed. It should be a warning sign.

Sylar said:
One we gotta replace with better next summer but we won't and instead we will leave it too late but then replace him with somebody that's 29
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I don't mind what age the player is as long as they actually perform. He hasn't performed for us enough to warrant the praise he get's on the caf.
 
He reminds me of Smalling on the ball now. He starts to take big strides forward with the ball and then turns back and passes back or sideways at best
 
Ekeke said:
Gets let off on here far too often. He's not that good, our standards are just low and he had a reasonable partnership with Lisandro last season. He and Lindelof dont look to have a reasonable partnership and individually they are on a pretty average level for defenders
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Yep. For all the praise, which mainly comes from his prior reputation, he's not even a patch on Smalling and Blind when they were partnering one another, and the majority wanted upgrades on both.
 
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