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But what about Varane?
On for another good season I hope!
For someone like him who can easily feature in another Euro (and even winning it) to retire from NT so early, it has to be related to fitness and not a decision he's taken lightly. And it's not about competitions either, when it comes into NT there are too many meaningless friendlies that require players to fly all around. Perhaps it's a bit too hopeful to expect him to never get injured for a whole season considering his history. However by reducing the amount of games and traveling, he has effectively reduced the chance of him getting injured so yeah it has to happen... playing more games. fingers crossed.
Yeap, very much this. And well, perhaps I should’ve said healthy-ish season
It was a good decision for United and hopefully also Varane.
He's been good to imperial when he's been available. His partnership with Licha has been transformative for us - and I don't know how anyone would be able to argue otherwise, with a serious face. I do agree he's struggled with fitness, but to say he has struggled to live up to expectation is a stretch.
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He wasn't, but he was very good in his own right.
So many good actions from Kobbie made it into that video too
He was our best pure defender.
I disagree. Martinez was still better and I'd argue Shaw was also more solid over the course of the season too. Varane was good, but he makes far fewer mistakes because he's the most passive player in the backline. There's a reason that he's looked back to his best since Martinez arrived and that's because Martinez has put in consistently brilliant performances every time he's donned the shirt.
Agree to disagree.
Varane is the organiser of the defence. He is the guy that allows Martínez to be aggressive. In pure defending terms he is immaculate. Martínez doesn't look good next to maguire we saw that. We also saw how good shaw looked next to guess who? Varane.
What? When did he ever lose a foot race? Son kicked the ball twenty yards ahead to run past and Varane jogged past him with ease. When he wants to, he is stupidly fast. He just looks cumbersome.
Martinez is debatable but there's no way Shaw was more solid. Shaw is just a decent defender now its everything else in his game that stands out.
No question Varane has been excellent alongside Licha but too many injuries for him already. Availability of our star players is key for our success. Bruno played the most minutes for any player last season and his availability makes him so important for the team. At this point in his career I don’t see Varane stay fit and give us full a season, United need a younger model as back up who's just as effective. Antonio Silva of Benfica?
I didn’t actually say that he lost a foot race and not sure why you mentioned Son. I can’t remember specific games from last season but even against Arsenal he was the last man against Ntekiah and I think if the ball was right he would have been caught out. ( midway through the first half). I would say it’s more dynamic movement, which maybe as you say is affected by appearing “cumbersome” but I was hoping it was recovering from his injuries and feeling comfortable.
To be fair, there was one or two times where he has looked a bit heavy footed in the pre-season games. I hope it's just fitness/condition issues but it's also something I've noticed too of late. He's very clearly not the same Varane of 5 years ago in terms of pace. I'm very happy with the rest of his game, including passing, aerially, leadership, positioning and actual defensive contributions but there have been times where he's not able to put the afterburners on or looked sharp on the turn. It's definitely a concern I have for the longer term.
It's because he hasn't had to play next Maguire since.
That's what I took from that video too - who is that midfield maestro and where was he last season?!So many good actions from Kobbie made it into that video too
Probably helps sure! But Martinez has still looked good next to anyone, he’s just a class above.
I agree, we need to already be looking for Varane’s replacement. Adnan just created a thread on this young Ivorian CB at Sporting, he looks really good. Antonio Silva, as you mentioned, is another one who is ready to step in but he will probably cost more than Gvardiol because Benfica. One we should be watching is Sutalo, although he’s older at 23. He will probably be the most cost-efficient at the moment and we can take our time to let him settle in to PL football.
It was quoted by him that he played through some injuries in periods last season, so I too noticed that he looked a little clumsy moving at times, but when called upon, he showed great pace to get us out of situations. I do agree that if injuries continue, it may be a concern.
He looks cumbersome and heavy footed from time to time, but when he wants to, he has serious pace to burn. Wasn't it Kroos who said no RM player was able to outpace him during their tenure at RM together? That was a few years ago, but he still shows his speed over distance when he has to. Smalling was similar in that he looked clumsy while moving, but he was deceptively fast. I think Varane's positioning, which is quite brilliant, also makes him run around less now than he used to when he was younger.
