I mean I rate Varane, but he's injured constantly and his play hasn't been great when fit. I dislike Maguire, but ETH is right to select him based on form. Varane can be upset all he wants, but nobody should be guaranteed a starting spot. Follow Maguire's lead, and work your way back. I will give credit to Harry, even though he lacks any kind of self awareness, he does have a top mentality to push forward through all the (valid) criticism. Credit to him.
Varane to Saudi league?
- Thread starter Sassy Colin
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Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) discuss United's fantastic win away against Athletic Club in the semi-final of the Europa League.
They also pick out the positives of United's 4-3 loss away at Brentford, and Nik reviews a day out at Old Trafford watching Manchester United Women qualify for the Champions League.
It's a major flaw in his management style.
It also means that when the players do leave everybody knows that the club are desperate to get rid, so this will only drive down the transfer fee.
I wonder if Man Utd can get a good transfer fee from Varane and Casemiro, both of them are over 30 and on very high wages.
They paid 30 million for Mane (30yo) and 23 million for Koulibally (32yo) and 14 million for Henderson (32yo)
Definitely need to send agents to Saudi to close the deals.
Bayern were desperate to get rid of Mane, Koulibaly is actually a decent price for his age. What did Henderson have left on his deal, a year? Liverpool didn't really want to sell so 14m isn't that much, but decent.
Varane should at least fetch 20m, though I personally wouldn't sell him mid-season. Casemiro is a household name and a mainstay for Brazil, on huge wages and a long contract so guessing 15-20m mark would do it.
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Martinez-Varane was amazing for the 2022 season but I don’t think we will get back to the level with them again. Same with Casemiro.
They were good in parts, but let's not rewrite history. They were the pairing when we conceded 6 at City and 7 at Liverpool. The whole team was bad, but it also doesn't paint them in a particularly good light.
While I would love Varane and Casemiro to stay, I think it’s quite obvious that you sell both to Saudi and reinvest in younger options.
Need to sell him. Too much quality in him. We don't need that.
Gary and Roy; feck off you plonkers.
Gary and Roy; feck off you plonkers.
No way we sell him in Jan - he’s our best defender.
Review at the end of the season.
Plenty ahead of him to get out the door first.
Review at the end of the season.
Plenty ahead of him to get out the door first.
Shouldn't get carried away with one good performance. He'll be injured by next week. Still needs to go.
Indeed. I love how one good game changes everybodys mind all of a sudden. Idiots.
Also on yesterdays basis let’s hand Evan’s a new 5 year contract
He's never played like our best defender, he's been average at best for most of his time here. When available.
Who's been better? Genuine question because our other defenders have been maguire and lindelof
Really? When he and Licha were spearheading our 23 game unbeaten run last season we were all singing his praises.
He's obviously one of our best defenders fully fit that is surely not up for debate. When he's had a poor game, it's been when the entire team has been shite, which isn't indicative of Varane being a poor player.
Thought he was class against Liverpool, for all the praise Van Dijk got I think Varane was solid. Hopefully he can start a few games and he continues where he left off.
Thought he was class against Liverpool, for all the praise Van Dijk got I think Varane was solid. Hopefully he can start a few games and he continues where he left off.
Nonsense. He's lost us a lot of games.
Which games has he lost where he's been solely at fault? He's played shit, but only as part as the whole team playing shit.
Him and Martinez have been our best CB partnership in years.
I’d happily keep Varane for the next few years - him and Martinez are our best partnership. But he can’t stay fit, and even Martinez isn’t a sure thing at this point. We should definitely be signing someone else even if we keep Varane.
FCK away springs to mind he was dreadful in that game.
I think if we could sell him to Saudi and get a decent return we should sell him and replace him with a younger defender.
I don’t disagree, upgrading him for a younger defender would be good. But that defender would have to actually be class, not another Lindelof etc.
Based on this season alone, aside from last Sunday, he’s been pretty poor. Nothing close to justifying the wages and certainly not a starter. If there is a more robust and better CB available then it makes sense - all depends on who is making the decision. If it’s the old guard then we might as well stick with him as I don’t trust them to make the right call.
I'm reading that a lot (that's he's had a poor season), but I don't see it either. I don't even think he's played shit, except apparently the Copenhagen game (which I didn't watch). He's far too often injured, which means you need a solid alternative option on RB. He's class.
I think this season he's been off the boil at times, but there's the huge caveat of a) he's hardly played b) he was fantastic (I thought at least) vs Liverpool and c) he came to the fore with Martinez next to him, who's been injured all season.
When it comes to defenders, we've got Varane, Martinez, Lindelof, Maguire, Evans. On form - which, to repeat, we haven't been on as a team all season - Varane and Martinez are our best defensive partnership without a doubt. Question is whether he can stay fit and if we were to bring in a young top class centre back then I wouldn't be adverse to flogging Varane to Saudi for a large amount of pound sterling.
Elegant defender but we shouldn't have signed him in the first place.
they have been, but injuries for both is a concern. Varane has been here 3 years and not completed a full season, Martinez is in his 2nd season and won't complete a full season in either. You'd hope that Martinez injury was just a bad one that stretched across both seasons and we don't rush him back this time, and when he does come back he'll be good for the foreseeable. Varane, to be honest, you are just waiting on notification of his next injury it seems.
Looking at the match ratings from his starts to refresh my memory:
Wolves 1-0: 7.0, tied for team-best
Spurs 0-2: 5.5, 2nd best on team
Forest 3-2: 5.6, 8th best on team
Palace 3-0 (CC): 6.8, 6th best on team
Palace 0-1: 5.2, 2nd best on team
Galatasaray 2-3: 3.8, 7th best on team
FC Copenhagen 1-0: 6.2, 3rd best on team
FC Copenhagen 3-4: 3.5, 10th best on team
Bayern 0-1: 5.6, 2nd best on team
Liverpool 0-0: 7.7, team best
Included the second Copenhagen game, where he came on early. Obviously, Caf match ratings aren't exactly a precise science, but they at least give a pretty good pointer towards the general opinion of his performances at the time.
Not really that bad? There are three obvious poor ones, where he got both a low rating and was considered one of the weaker performances on the team: The losses to Galatasaray and FC Copenhagen, and also the win against Forest, where he will have been heavily deducted for his complicity in those two Forest goals within the first four minutes of the match.
The remaining seven, he either gets a good rating, or gets one of the best (or least bad) ratings on the team.
Team record in his starts; 4-1-5, pretty much average.
Goals; 13 scored, 13 allowed= 1.30 pr match. This is just on the season average for goals scored (1.32), but quite a bit lower than the season average for goals allowed (1.56).
So, the long and the short of it - no huge obvious impact on team results, except we allow a little bit fewer goals with him in the lineup. 3 bad performances out of 10 starts, otherwise good, among the best on the team, or both. Hardly the stuff of legend, but in an injury plagued season with a constantly revolving defensive lineup, it's hardly very damning either. Seems to me an awfully thin basis for concluding he needs moving out.
His lack of durability is a point in itself, but I think it's debatable what conclusion to draw from that. As long as he's playing well when healthy, why not keep him around and give the game time to a capable alternative RB option (as of now, Maguire)? Getting a younger, cheaper replacement sounds nice, but the simple fact is a decent replacement is going to come at a bigger cost than what we'll get for him. There aren't dozens of CBs who'll bring what he does. And there are many, many slots in this squad that are in more urgent need of upgrading than his.
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Yeah Varane being a bit glass is his biggest issue and for that reason I'd be happy to replace him, as long as that person is the toppest of top quality. (Don't trust us to achieve that).
Fair play, good work! And I'm very certain that if you look back at last season he was one of the most highest rated players in the side. Bolded part is the crux of it, the only reason for selling would be to cash in (and I mean in a way that United have been unable to do for years/ever) with the view to immediately reinvest in someone better.
Not something I have any faith in us achieving, even if we wanted to.
Agree we would need to get a young defender of a certain class.
If we get any decent offer for him, we have to take it. Idiotic management to keep him given we are competing for nothing and his fitness and level is only getting worse. It doesn't matter that he can be a top defender when fit. We need a more athletic center back who can stay fit and be relied on. Sell him, buy Todibo and forget about the CB position and this constant churn.
Low hanging fruit to fill social media in the lead up to the transfer window.
Dude is 30, and he is staying. Especially if Carlo rumors have some low legs.
And if he leaves, its for Bayern.
And if he leaves, its for Bayern.
Sell and invest wisely, would be a new thing at United.
If there is a chance to sell Varane or Casimero, do not ask and take the money. Both were talented players, but such signings are the symbol our way down. Old, expansive, injury prone. Time to change to young, talented, motivated.....
If there is a chance to sell Varane or Casimero, do not ask and take the money. Both were talented players, but such signings are the symbol our way down. Old, expansive, injury prone. Time to change to young, talented, motivated.....
Is there a way I can scrape this data off of the Caf? I think there are a lot of good insights you can get out of that.
Madrid linked with him too today 
Club is a joke if we sell in January
Club is a joke if we sell in January
Need to keep proven winners in the dressing room and manage their game time.
We can’t let Ten Hag dismantle the squad and leave us with a weak, slow squad with no proven winners or leaders
We can’t let Ten Hag dismantle the squad and leave us with a weak, slow squad with no proven winners or leaders