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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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He's never been good on the ball. He's part of the reason we struggle to play out.
 
Literally only back from injury and has played 3 games in a week.

Will be crocked again soon at this rate.
 
He's not as good as he was built up to be, I'm fairly convinced of that at this stage. He might have won umpteen things elsewhere but I think he's often struggled with the pace of the game in the PL and he doesn't really show strong leadership credentials to take his credibility and stature as a footballer and influence those around him which I was hoping for as a defender. If they communicate and rally others it helps. That's not to suggest he isn't a very good player, I just think for the background he has and judging him by the standards of top class centre backs I've seen at the club he isn't at that level. Doesn't help when you're always worried he'll fall over injured.
 
Leftback99 said:
He's never been good on the ball. He's part of the reason we struggle to play out.
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We struggle to play out because our midfielders don’t like keeping the ball. Onana was supposed to make the difference and now it’s our defenders again when our midfield is largely absent or giving the ball straight back to the opponent.
 
Another past-it player signed for big money. Like Casemiro. This club will never learn. Having said that, I think he's our best CB.
 
He's going to be injured very soon. He's being overplayed, but we don't have much choice.
 
Poor passing, and looked shaky under pressure just like we saw him at Real in some games. His defensive work was ok most of the time e but under his normal standard.
 
The Mitcher said:
What's mad is he was 28 when we signed him, he should still be in his peak at 30.
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Injuries and they were moving on from Ramos as well who had been his partner. They obviously didnt fancy him in that role of making a new pairing and helping a younger player
 
He looks more uncomfortable on the ball than Chris Smalling.
 
How can you play football your whole life and still be so awkward at passing the ball.
 
Out of all our players, he's probably the most "he looks finished" one out there. Stiff and slow compared to before. Hopefully he can find a decent level to finish the season because this is problematic currently.
 
Looks slow and not able to react. Seems to lack authority and is not really a commanding presence at all. He should be the main man in there calling all the shots and controlling that backline.

First goal he just watches that ball sail over his shoulder and does nothing, when as soon as he sees the player lining up the long ball he should be ready to drop to make the headed clearance.
 
Yagami said:
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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To this day they remain our best CB duo post-SAF. Without question.
 
DWelbz19 said:
To this day they remain our best CB duo post-SAF. Without question.
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Smalling was actually better at everything than Varane. Even on the ball he was more composed despite needing to take 5 seconds to position his body for a simple pass. Blind was, too, even though people would argue that, defensively, Varane was, but at CB I don't recall Blind getting shown up like Varane.

If you judge him purely in a United shirt with what he's done for France and Madrid swept under the carpet, he's been no better than the likes of Bailly and Rojo. A terrible signing that, like Casemiro, is saved by his reputation.
 
Hardly watch United, but from my impression here is that you guys are not so impressed with his passing?

That makes sense to me, Varane, while a good CB, was rather average on the ball in my book, Ramos was the one who took care of passing the ball out from the back.
 
Morty_ said:
Hardly watch United, but from my impression here is that you guys are not so impressed with his passing?

That makes sense to me, Varane, while a good CB, was rather average on the ball in my book, Ramos was the one who took care of passing the ball out from the back.
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He’s confident and tidy but he’s not expansive or our best passer from the back. That’s Lisandro Martinez by some distance.
 
Morty_ said:
Hardly watch United, but from my impression here is that you guys are not so impressed with his passing?

That makes sense to me, Varane, while a good CB, was rather average on the ball in my book, Ramos was the one who took care of passing the ball out from the back.
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I feel like he’s fine just made one really bad pass playing out last game so it’s a hotter topic. He doesn’t normally try that many higher risk passes but I think bigger issue is he physically looks a bit slower/stiffer almost these days and his pace has fallen off. Great when fully fit but not sure he’ll ever be that unless he plays once a week max.
 
Yagami said:
Smalling was actually better at everything than Varane. Even on the ball he was more composed despite needing to take 5 seconds to position his body for a simple pass. Blind was, too, even though people would argue that, defensively, Varane was, but at CB I don't recall Blind getting shown up like Varane.

If you judge him purely in a United shirt with what he's done for France and Madrid swept under the carpet, he's been no better than the likes of Bailly and Rojo. A terrible signing that, like Casemiro, is saved by his reputation.
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This is complete bollocks. Anybody with half a football brain can tell you so. Varane came into a team on a downward trajectory due to other factors, and probably disappointed a few with ‘star player’ expectations, but he still was our best defender by a mile and a half his firs season. He probably was last season too, even if Licha was a more astonishing watch.

Smalling and Blind is a double joke in fan verdicts to me. When they were here, they had half a season each with a group of fans saying they were The Solution, and most of the rest of the time was a much larger group saying ‘this is how far the mighty have fallen’.

Varane has the same aerial and one on one abilities as Smalling, but he reads the game better and has better timing. Still. He has more leadership qualities, which you see each time Varane has been out of the frame, and which you would see if Smalling was thrown in with four different newcomers or extra hands each game.

On the ball, Varane is overrated. He is not the best ball playing defender in the WC and CL winners, he is among the medium level ball plsying defender for the WC winners and CL winners.

Smalling was underestimated. People said his capabilities with the ball ws conference league level, I always thought it was decentish for, say, a mid table Championship team.

Blind was surprisingly good at not getting beaten in most duels for three months. Still, he was weak, slow and in the long run, a liability in every one on one situation.
 
Yagami said:
Smalling was actually better at everything than Varane. Even on the ball he was more composed despite needing to take 5 seconds to position his body for a simple pass. Blind was, too, even though people would argue that, defensively, Varane was, but at CB I don't recall Blind getting shown up like Varane.

If you judge him purely in a United shirt with what he's done for France and Madrid swept under the carpet, he's been no better than the likes of Bailly and Rojo. A terrible signing that, like Casemiro, is saved by his reputation.
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This is a comically bad take. Varane’s issue is injuries/fitness and otherwise he’s generally been great. He’s had some iffy games for sure but when fit (which is his main issue) he’s been excellent. I do think she/miles on the body are showing a bit this season though, not sure he’s actually fit at all even though he’s playing from how he’s moving.

Smalling shouldn’t have been sold because he was a very solid CB with great all round athleticism and aerial ability who was quite basic with his use of the ball. He seemed by all accounts happy, not on huge wages and a nice if somewhat reserved guy who could have been kept as a squad player and got good minutes. But let’s not pretend he was as good as Varane has been for us in the stints he’s been fit.

Blind was basically an even slower, worse aerially and less aggressive Licha. Very clever player, very good passer and a generally good defender. A good foil for someone like Smalling in the same way Licha and Varane work well (there’s a clear difference in ability between those two pairs though!)
 
Yagami said:
Smalling was actually better at everything than Varane. Even on the ball he was more composed despite needing to take 5 seconds to position his body for a simple pass. Blind was, too, even though people would argue that, defensively, Varane was, but at CB I don't recall Blind getting shown up like Varane.

If you judge him purely in a United shirt with what he's done for France and Madrid swept under the carpet, he's been no better than the likes of Bailly and Rojo. A terrible signing that, like Casemiro, is saved by his reputation.
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Not a chance was Smalling better than Varane. Smalling was, maybe still is a good player but there's no way he's better at everything than Varane. That's just bollocks. Blind was too slow and it was shown up plenty times. Also Varane has been much better than both of those gowls put together, funnily enough in the last few days one of them was red carded and the other scored an og. The pair of absolute shitebags.

They may have been poorly thought out signings in the medium to long term but lets not pretend that the likes of Smalling, Rojo and Bailly were ever any better.
 
Pexbo said:
He’s confident and tidy but he’s not expansive or our best passer from the back. That’s Lisandro Martinez by some distance.
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Right, he is not a bad passer, but its preferable to have a ball-playing CB alongside him, same as at RM, really.
 
We need a fast, big steady centre back. Someone like Lewis Dunk, Spurs new centreback. Doesn’t need to have a brand name. A defender who can defend, no-frills, with basic passing. That’s it actually.
 
Bobski said:
Yet Madrid were happy to let him go
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Not really. Real had been trying to get him to sign a new contract for a year or two but he was refusing to sign as he wanted to try something new. According to reports Real was getting frustrated as he and his agent weren't even bothering to negotiate as he'd already made up his mind to leave. So Real either sold him for good money when they did or lost him 12 months later for free.
 
Grande said:
This is complete bollocks. Anybody with half a football brain can tell you so. Varane came into a team on a downward trajectory due to other factors, and probably disappointed a few with ‘star player’ expectations, but he still was our best defender by a mile and a half his firs season. He probably was last season too, even if Licha was a more astonishing watch.
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To be honest, he was our best in his first season more because of how bad our other options were. Varane himself was disappointing and average at best that season. Sure he had a few fantastic games but he had just as many absolute shockers. Last season he improved a lot, and it's debatable which of him and Martinez were better (Martinez reached a higher peak but dropped off quite a bit as well).
 
Got to say I've never been impressed.

He looks to have lost a yard of pace, he looks clumsy, he looks uncomfortable on the ball and he's very casual and non-commital in some of his defending.

He's like a poundland Rio Ferdinand, with all the bad characteristics and none of the really good ones
 
Varane can play a nice long pass with either foot. He doesnt try it that much for us. His short passing on the other hand is mediocre and there are plenty of times where he uses an awkward or lazy technique making it less smooth in the buildup. Same with his dribbling the ball gets under his feet. These rarely end with losing the ball but when you're a team that wants to play out from the back with such dedication it does lead to losing momentum in the buildup at times.

Of our starting defenders pool (Lisandro, Varane, Lindelof) he looks the most comfortable in aerial duels/heading the ball. Thats the only thing he has over the others
 
MadDogg said:
To be honest, he was our best in his first season more because of how bad our other options were. Varane himself was disappointing and average at best that season. Sure he had a few fantastic games but he had just as many absolute shockers. Last season he improved a lot, and it's debatable which of him and Martinez were better (Martinez reached a higher peak but dropped off quite a bit as well).
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He was average. He just had a better partner than before
 
Stacks said:
He's closer to Smalling than Rio Ferdinand
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Smalling was a great defender. On the ball, awkward. In fact I would say Martinez- Varane performed pretty similarly to Blind- Smalling.
 
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He'll be in Saudi this time next year.

Wouldn't put it past him to move in January.
 
I wouldn't mind if he leaves. I like him and think he's good, but his injury record is ridiculous. You simply can't rely on him at all. Shame really.
 
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