How injury prone is Manchester United defender Raphael Varane?

FT Desk

• Updated: 8 Apr 2022 08:30 CDT
• 6 min read

Manchester United fans were left rolling their eyes again on Friday afternoon when interim manager Ralf Rangnick confirmed that Raphael Varane was once again injured.

Speaking ahead of the club's must-win clash with Everton on Saturday, the German manager confirmed that Varane and a number of players were still due to miss the match.

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"Cavani is still injured, Raphael Varane is still injured and will be missing out again tomorrow and the same is true for Scott McTominay, he's having problems with the sole of his foot," said Rangnick.

The French defender made the move to Old Trafford last summer from Real Madrid in a transfer that cost a reported £36 million to the Premier League giants.

However, despite arriving to much fan fare, Varane has struggled to live up to expectation or indeed remain fit for any extended period of time.

So should the Old Trafford club be worried about Varane’s wavering fitness or is this just a spot of bad luck?

How injury-prone is Varane?

Over the course of 10 years at Real Madrid, Varane played a vital part in a number of teams under a number of managers. So there’s certainly very little proof that suggests he struggled to stay fit or injury-free for most of his time in Spain.

However, that’s not to say he didn’t miss a number of games over the course of his spell in the Spanish capital.

In total, Varane missed 70 games in all competitions for Madrid over his 10-year spell, which amounts to around 16 percent of the total games he was available for.

That averages out to around seven games per season in which Varane was out injured, which is by no means a poor return for a player that is often tasked with dealing with the most physical aspects of the modern game.

What was perhaps encouraging for Man Utd fans was the fact that 23 of those 70 games out injured came in a single season, when Varane had a severe knee injury. And in the following three seasons he missed only 14 games.

However, since making the move to Man Utd that has changed slightly for the worse.

In less than one season, Varane has already missed at least 14 games for the Old Trafford club in all competitions and that tally will rise to 15 when he sits out Saturday's clash with Everton.

As such, that means that Varane has missed a sizable 37 percent of Man Utd's games since he joined the club last summer.

So is Varane injury prone? In a word, no. But, like all players, Man Utd fans should perhaps expect to see the defender out with minor injuries from time to time.