Varane will leave Man Utd in January if…

Carlo Garganese

• 5 Dec 2023 07:38 GMT
• 3 min read

Raphael Varane will only leave Manchester United in January if the club tell him he is unwanted.

That is according to the Manchester Evening News, who report that Varane is happy to see out the rest of the season at Old Trafford.

Speculation has risen in recent weeks that Varane could leave Man Utd in January in search of first team football.

The World Cup winner has lost his place in the United first team and started just one of the last 11 matches.

He has fallen so far down the centre back order that Jonny Evans, Victor Lindelof and Luke Shaw have all been preferred to him as Harry Maguire’s centre back partner.

But Varane does not intend to leave United during the January transfer window unless he is told to.

The Daily Telegraph reported last month that there is a “strained relationship” between Varane and Ten Hag after the Dutchman dropped the centre back.

What did Ten Hag say?

Ten Hag rejected these reports of a fall-out: “Absolutely not. As I said, it is about tactical reasons why I chose these partnerships. I think Harry [Maguire] and Jonny [Evans] did well,” Ten Hag said.

“What I said last year, Harry [Maguire] didn’t play a lot, so I was very happy with Rapha [Varane]’s performances. I have always been happy with his performance. But in this moment, Harry is playing very well and there is internal competition.”

The Athletic reports that Varane accepts that Ten Hag’s decision to drop him for Maguire is simply a tactical one.

Ten Hag appeared to suggest that Varane and Maguire are not an ideal partnership.

“There are moments in certain games where they [Maguire and Varane] can play together and they have already proven they can do it,” he said.

“But the build-up is not that fluid when one of them is playing from the left centre-back position,” explained Ten Hag.

This would suggest that Ten Hag will pick either Maguire or Varane, and not both.

Varane joined Man Utd from Real Madrid in 2021 but has not impressed like he did during 10 brilliant years in Spain.