Varane wants to prove Ten Hag wrong about Maguire

Carlo Garganese

• 12 Nov 2023 16:26 GMT
• 3 min read

There is no bad blood between Raphael Varane and Erik ten Hag, with the World Cup winner aiming to win his place back in the Man Utd team, according to The Athletic.

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

Varane has not started any of Man Utd’s last four matches, with the Frenchman losing his first-team spot.

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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.”

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And 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.

The Athletic reports that Varane is confident he can win back his starting shirt, with Maguire a good example to follow after the England defender won Ten Hag over following months out in the cold.