Didn't Jose give Ibra the number 9 without consulting Martial?
OFFICIAL: Raphael Varane is now a Manchester United player | Wears #19
- Thread starter Damien
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That was under Jose. Big difference.
If "Luis Suarez is one of the most beautiful men you could come across" according to Brendan Rodgers.
What will be his description of Varane... ?
What will be his description of Varane... ?
Jesus. They were even closer than I thought.
Why are you quoting a madman who is obsessed with making his teeth as bright as possible that you need to wear black sunglasses whenever he appears on TV screen?
That was an example, the point being I don't think the club sit around and think about whether the likes of Martial, Jones whoever, have the number they want.
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‘Looks like’?
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I highly recommend the documentary 'destin de champion' on amazon which was released in 2019.
It's a 3 part documentary about Varane and shows you alot of the man behind the scenes. It shows you his upbringing in Lille, his time at RC Lens, early move to Madrid, his international career and his personal life.
Things that positively stood out for me as far as united are concerned are...
- He is desperate for new titles even after winning so much at madrid and with France. He seemed disturbingly upset to miss out on the euros 2016 through injury - he compared it to a mourning. A part of me thinks he is desperate to win the prem and or also the CL with a foreign team which would almost make his cv incomparable. Throughout this documentary he constantly talks about challenges and you can see that he isn't the average player that is happy to take the 259+k a week and just play. He is seriously motivated by success. He wouldn't come to a team that he believes isn't capable of winning titles. He may have liked us as a youngster and admired our players but he isn't the type of guy to join us for the paycheque or just the chance to play in the prem. He's here to win titles. This mentality may come as a shock to some of our players
- He doesn't take shit off anyone and I also suspect he was fed up of the whole circus that Real Madrid always becomes once they stop being successful. In the docu he mentions that very soon after he signed for madrid, in a training session, cristiano called him 'Varane' and told him to go in the middle of an interception drill to which Varane angrily responded 'its rapha' - This was funny because he basically put an untouchable ronaldo in his place and was only very early 20s at this stage. He knew he couldn't let the big egos at madrid walk all over him.
Him and his brother talk about the pressures of playing for Madrid and there is a scene where he seems to be avoiding the president (Perez) after a defeat - correct me if I'm wrong. He seems the type of guy to just see right through perez and his bullshit. This may sound bad on Varanes part but I do think he has left a sinking ship and I don't blame him. Real Madrid do not deserve loyalty from players anymore.
- He isn't too expressive on the surface but in the changing room/ on the pitch he is a proper leader. There is a scene in the documentary during half time at the 2018 world cup and he is shouting at the team and in shot you see both Pogba and Deschamps completely silent and almost hesitating to interact with him out of fear and shame, and that says alot given how outspoken pogba and deschamps are. Honestly it was incredible to see. He is a cool, calm and collected serial winner but has a winners mentality. He will not not acceot mediocrity in any form and will be calling the shots in our dressing room within a few months if you ask me. Maguire will be the happiest man in the North West knowing that such an established, physically capable and sensible centre back is going to be playing alongside him.
- He gets on with Pogba alot, which imo is a massive bonus because even though I've always firmly stated that Pogba is happy here and will sign an extension, its nice to see that he clearly had an input in this signing. Virus my arse. We are the closest to winning a major title since fergie retired yet muopets will still have a go at pogba because his agent is a cnut.
- his stature in the game is absolutely massive despite being 28. Just listen to what his ex teammates, opponents, managers say about him.
- he is only 28. The same age Rio was in 2006. He's got many years left ahead of him and with the help of our fans, will surely go on to become a club legend.
Sometimes a personality or presence can be the difference between challenging and winning.
It's a 3 part documentary about Varane and shows you alot of the man behind the scenes. It shows you his upbringing in Lille, his time at RC Lens, early move to Madrid, his international career and his personal life.
Things that positively stood out for me as far as united are concerned are...
- He is desperate for new titles even after winning so much at madrid and with France. He seemed disturbingly upset to miss out on the euros 2016 through injury - he compared it to a mourning. A part of me thinks he is desperate to win the prem and or also the CL with a foreign team which would almost make his cv incomparable. Throughout this documentary he constantly talks about challenges and you can see that he isn't the average player that is happy to take the 259+k a week and just play. He is seriously motivated by success. He wouldn't come to a team that he believes isn't capable of winning titles. He may have liked us as a youngster and admired our players but he isn't the type of guy to join us for the paycheque or just the chance to play in the prem. He's here to win titles. This mentality may come as a shock to some of our players
- He doesn't take shit off anyone and I also suspect he was fed up of the whole circus that Real Madrid always becomes once they stop being successful. In the docu he mentions that very soon after he signed for madrid, in a training session, cristiano called him 'Varane' and told him to go in the middle of an interception drill to which Varane angrily responded 'its rapha' - This was funny because he basically put an untouchable ronaldo in his place and was only very early 20s at this stage. He knew he couldn't let the big egos at madrid walk all over him.
Him and his brother talk about the pressures of playing for Madrid and there is a scene where he seems to be avoiding the president (Perez) after a defeat - correct me if I'm wrong. He seems the type of guy to just see right through perez and his bullshit. This may sound bad on Varanes part but I do think he has left a sinking ship and I don't blame him. Real Madrid do not deserve loyalty from players anymore.
- He isn't too expressive on the surface but in the changing room/ on the pitch he is a proper leader. There is a scene in the documentary during half time at the 2018 world cup and he is shouting at the team and in shot you see both Pogba and Deschamps completely silent and almost hesitating to interact with him out of fear and shame, and that says alot given how outspoken pogba and deschamps are. Honestly it was incredible to see. He is a cool, calm and collected serial winner but has a winners mentality. He will not not acceot mediocrity in any form and will be calling the shots in our dressing room within a few months if you ask me. Maguire will be the happiest man in the North West knowing that such an established, physically capable and sensible centre back is going to be playing alongside him.
- He gets on with Pogba alot, which imo is a massive bonus because even though I've always firmly stated that Pogba is happy here and will sign an extension, its nice to see that he clearly had an input in this signing. Virus my arse. We are the closest to winning a major title since fergie retired yet muopets will still have a go at pogba because his agent is a cnut.
- his stature in the game is absolutely massive despite being 28. Just listen to what his ex teammates, opponents, managers say about him.
- he is only 28. The same age Rio was in 2006. He's got many years left ahead of him and with the help of our fans, will surely go on to become a club legend.
Sometimes a personality or presence can be the difference between challenging and winning.
That's not really the point I hope. Whether or not you value him as a player you can respect him as a human, and demanding his number off his back at this point, when it seems he's at a low point in his career, just feels like telling him to his face that he's worthless.
Sir Alex always made it clear that to him the club was a family, and that respect helped drive the team to success. I don't think Ferguson would treat a player like that - look how Fletcher was treated during his illness. I think Solskjaer is trying to move back towards that, and I doubt he'd force Jones to give up his number just cos he's injured most of the time and he's not as good as the shiny new signing.
Thank you for sharing. Great post.
Great summary, thanks!
Are you saying he is legit Football god cyborg?
Loved reading that, thank you! Along with Cavani, we have added to amazing experience recently which could hold valuable for years to come with many of the youngsters and older professionals who have lacked that winning side to their mentality so far in their careers!
Nothing but positives from this transfer!
One of the major problems we had post-Fergie was our winning mentality slipping away and lack of leadership on the pitch. We had nobody we can really call leaders who can spur the team on in the face of adversity, maybe with the exception of Zlatan.
Bruno was a start in getting this factor back but getting to know more about Varane in a way like this is very reassuring for our future.
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I absolutely love the signings of Varane and Sancho. Both players that would be welcome at any club in the world yet both were determined to join us. That was not always the case the past decade but shows that we are on the right path.
While I do not think we are going to win a major tropy this season we are not far off.
While I do not think we are going to win a major tropy this season we are not far off.
Thank you for sharing!
But that just makes him our best player? It doesn’t take away the fact that he’s been a great signing. None of the other players mentioned have been world class for six months or anything more than consistently fine for the past six months individually.
When did I say he hasn’t been a great signing. Bruno and Maguire have been a lot better than consistently fine, also.
Your post insinuated that it’s only been the last six months that Shaw has looked a great signing. Bruno hasn’t been a lot better than fine In the last six months, he was great on Saturday. Maguire I don’t really think most people noticed his importance until he got injured. Individually his performances haven’t been as outstanding as Shaws.
Reading this made me understand what middle age women experienced reading Fifty Shades of Grey. Thanks for sharing.
That’s smile is infectious
He comes across in this as a class act
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I think Lindelof is guaranteed. He did well again Leeds and there is no need to rush Varane into the side. We’ve got a favourable fixture list we can use to introduce him and it’s important that Lindelof as the first backup still feels valued and retains his confidence and motivation.
Yeah, Lindelof will and should start. Varane can come on after 75 mins when we're leading 3-0. Maybe for Maguire, just to mess with the Caf
I take your point, but I still reckon he's pretty grateful to have had this long as a starting United centre back. I wouldn't have thought the prospect of being a rotation option will come as a shock - he knows we bought Varane to take his place.
I wouldn’t agree with that. He has just been made captain of his national team, he’s going to want as much playing time as possible to hold on to this honour. It’s also unlikely he has been told we are replacing him, more that Varane will add competition in the way Telles did at LB and the way we want a RB to push AWB. (cos he can’t drive anywhere badum tish!)
I think the idea of a set in stone centre back 2 Is a little misguided- I can see Victor, Rafa and Eric all rotating from one competition to the next. Harry might even get a rest!
That's fair, I agree he'll get his share of game time but I would be amazed if he doesn't suspect that Varane is coming in ahead of him in the pecking order. Obviously it's more and more a squad game but you'd imagine he'll be playing the less important games while varane will feature in the more.
Obviously Lindelof isn't just gonna be cast aside, and if we have ambitions of winning titles & cups then we're gonna play upwards of 60 games a season.
If rotated well, there's no reason why Lindelof still can't play 20-30 games in all competitions.
If rotated well, there's no reason why Lindelof still can't play 20-30 games in all competitions.
Agreed, although maybe the imperious performance against Leeds was an indication that he is up for the fight for his place. Can only be good.
Perhaps last season was symptomatic of knowing Bailly/Jones/Tuanzebe weren’t exactly breathing down his neck, and also fatigue. He was pretty much ever present with Harry.
I think Lindelof can play a decent Johnny Evans role for us, would expect him to get plenty of game time with rotations in mind for the cup games, or just to give our main two a rest, as we did with Rio and Vidic. Doesn't hurt to have three very good CBs at a club.
Start him Sunday. He’s a rolls Royce.
I don't think an away game would be a good time to introduce him to the hustle and bustle of the premier league. Maybe get him on if we are winning, but give him his full debut when we are playing home.
We don’t play at home till after the international break. Next game is away at Wolves.
Was just reading a Sky article from last summer about transfers United have missed out on and came across this:
Kaveh Solhekol - Sky Sports News said: