Varane to Saudi league?

united_99

Takes pleasure in other people's pain
Joined
Jul 4, 2012
Messages
9,568
Would be a stark contrast from last season this time when ETH was full of praise and explaining why he was playing ahead of Maguire: great defender, strong leadership, very experienced, etc.
 

spiriticon

Full Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2013
Messages
7,449
We should cash in while we have a chance. It's good business for everyone involved.
 

didz

Full Member
Joined
May 17, 2014
Messages
1,766
Makes sense. Kante and Benzema were supposedly twisting his arm in the summer and after the season he's had (more injuries, dropping behind the Leicester pair, badly performing team & subsequent general malaise), he's sure to see Saudi Arabia as a good option.

He quite clearly didn't want to come on against Copenhagen, so I wouldn't be surprised if he's also got some issues with Ten Hag, but I think Varane would be likely to move on regardless.
 

sugar_kane

Full Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2013
Messages
3,508
30 years is no age for a centre back of his quality to join the retirement league. It's a sad state of affairs.

Money talks and you can't begrudge the guy to take the easy & lucrative option, but if that's his mindset I hope he leaves ASAP.
 

KeanoMagicHat

Full Member
Joined
Mar 31, 2019
Messages
4,049
30 years is no age for a centre back of his quality to join the retirement league. It's a sad state of affairs.

Money talks and you can't begrudge the guy to take the easy & lucrative option, but if that's his mindset I hope he leaves ASAP.
He's won 4 Champions Leagues and a World Cup, he started playing regularly as a teenager for Real Madrid. He's an old 30 without much to prove, compared to someone like Kane for example who still has a lot to prove. Depends on the context.
 

Guapa

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Nov 16, 2011
Messages
733
Injury prone.Snap their hand of.Same goes for his mate.
 

RuudTom83

Full Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2013
Messages
5,614
Location
Manc
30 years is no age for a centre back of his quality to join the retirement league. It's a sad state of affairs.

Money talks and you can't begrudge the guy to take the easy & lucrative option, but if that's his mindset I hope he leaves ASAP.
Crazy when you think he hasn't looked like being able to play 2 games in a week since his arrival...I knew he wasn't old but I would of guessed 32/33...but 30!!! feck
 

Carl

has permanently erect nipples
Joined
Mar 6, 2008
Messages
45,375
A match made in heaven. Cannot stay fit or cope with the intensity of the league. Semi retirement in SA sounds ideal.
 

Sandikan

aka sex on the beach
Joined
Mar 14, 2011
Messages
53,280
We’ve got another touch here. Without Saudi we’d be paying them off to leave. I can’t see Sancho moving there though
What do you mean "another" touch? Who have we shifted successfully? You don't mean Ronaldo surely, with us being the only club who could possibly let him go to Saudi without any fee, even though he's spearheaded their league.

And let's see this actually happen first.
 

Ali Dia

Full Member
Joined
May 10, 2013
Messages
14,344
Location
Souness's Super Sub/George Weahs Talented Cousin
I'd be happy to let Casemiro and Varane go this summer if only because they can still fetch decent sums. We need to rebuild (again) because of poor buys over the past 2 seasons. I don't know if we can be smarter with our money under the partially new regime though. I also don't know if Ten Hag will still be around in the summer.
As I said United are probably the luckiest club in the world that this Saudi thing has kicked off. We will probably still find a way to make a dogs dinner out of it but Casemiro and Varane sell themselves really with their pre Utd exploits
 

Ali Dia

Full Member
Joined
May 10, 2013
Messages
14,344
Location
Souness's Super Sub/George Weahs Talented Cousin
What do you mean "another" touch? Who have we shifted successfully? You don't mean Ronaldo surely, with us being the only club who could possibly let him go to Saudi without any fee, even though he's spearheaded their league.

And let's see this actually happen first.
I mean they are the only ones who can and will give a huge raise to 30+ players in the world apart from Utd and maybe PSG. If PSG didn’t want them we were paying their wages to go elsewhere. That’s what I mean by got a touch. Nothing to do with our recruitment skill.
 

Ralaks

Full Member
Joined
May 18, 2009
Messages
5,622
Location
Denmark
It's not like he has shown anything this season to support him earning the second highest wages in the squad.

Maybe if everything was going better his head would not have been turned, but currently we can definitely use his wages and potential transfer sum better based on current season
 

gaffs

Full Member
Joined
May 10, 2007
Messages
12,848
Location
Moscow 08, Rome 09, London 11

elmo

Can never have too many Eevees
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
13,402
Location
AKA: Slapanut Goat Smuggla
As I said United are probably the luckiest club in the world that this Saudi thing has kicked off. We will probably still find a way to make a dogs dinner out of it but Casemiro and Varane sell themselves really with their pre Utd exploits
Wait till we actually manage to sell our overpaid players before saying we’re the luckiest….

We’ve gotten feck all from them compared to everyone else.
 

dannyrhinos89

OMG socks and sandals lol!
Joined
Nov 24, 2013
Messages
14,450
Don’t care tbh, he’s not even good enough to displace maguire or evans.


give him and case a reunion with ronaldo.
 

RedRonaldo

Wishes to be oppressed.
Joined
Aug 17, 2003
Messages
18,996
30 years is no age for a centre back of his quality to join the retirement league. It's a sad state of affairs.

Money talks and you can't begrudge the guy to take the easy & lucrative option, but if that's his mindset I hope he leaves ASAP.
He has won everything as a defender. There's really nothing left for him to achieve, especially at Man Utd, its a career downhill for him anyway.

So its not a big surprise he wants to cash out next.
 

Sandikan

aka sex on the beach
Joined
Mar 14, 2011
Messages
53,280
Wait till we actually manage to sell our overpaid players before saying we’re the luckiest….

We’ve gotten feck all from them compared to everyone else.
Yes it seems quite odd to say we're in any way "lucky", when we couldn't even shift the World's highest profile player for a fee. Despite 30m or so being mooted long before.

Even the Saudi's with their mad money will end up taking them for free, or us paying a bit of the wage.
 

Pronewbie

Peep
Joined
May 17, 2004
Messages
6,688
Location
In front of My Computer
As I said United are probably the luckiest club in the world that this Saudi thing has kicked off. We will probably still find a way to make a dogs dinner out of it but Casemiro and Varane sell themselves really with their pre Utd exploits
Can you imagine if they are somehow able to convince the likes of Sancho to join them? Perhaps Stevie G could also put in a cheeky Mount bid. I mean, it's been more fun watching some Saudi League highlights than most of our matches this season.
 

Chesterlestreet

Man of the crowd
Joined
Oct 19, 2012
Messages
19,534
Sorry, but the only appropriate comment to this at the moment is: meh.

(Which is a shame, of course, but it is what it is.)
 

Lash

Full Member
Joined
May 3, 2012
Messages
12,172
Location
Buckinghamshire
Supports
Millwall, Saint-Etienne
His body seems to be breaking down in a tough league like ours, he was moaning about all the games not long ago, I think he's just making the decision now to take the money and not be constantly worried about the next injury.

Let's not forget he's been playing elite level football since he was 18. He broke through at 16, so he's played a hell of a lot of football for your average 30 year old.
 

sugar_kane

Full Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2013
Messages
3,508
He has won everything as a defender. There's really nothing left for him to achieve, especially at Man Utd, its a career downhill for him anyway.

So its not a big surprise he wants to cash out next.
He could have done us a favour and skipped the United stage in that case then.

He reminds me of Cavani, class player but seems to be content to pick and choose when he plays.
 

didz

Full Member
Joined
May 17, 2014
Messages
1,766
He has won everything as a defender. There's really nothing left for him to achieve, especially at Man Utd, its a career downhill for him anyway.

So its not a big surprise he wants to cash out next.
Yeah, I don't think he's particularly ambitious about his football these days. He obviously has a point in speaking out against the overload of fixtures, but considering he spends half his time injured anyway and given he's always the first player on the scene when the issue is brought up, he comes across as not really wanting to play all that much. Or at the very least only wanting to play on his own schedule.

He was in with a very good chance of being the France NT captain after the World Cup, but took himself out of the running by retiring altogether. Good money and a jolly kickabout once a fortnight will do for him, I'd guess.

Can you imagine if they are somehow able to convince the likes of Sancho to join them? Perhaps Stevie G could also put in a cheeky Mount bid. I mean, it's been more fun watching some Saudi League highlights than most of our matches this season.
Personally, I think Sancho to Al Hilal is pretty likely. He idolises Neymar, who has been effusive in praising him in return. He's got no prospects in terms of the England setup, doesn't have any options in Europe on his salary, and can't be enjoying his current situation all that much either.

If, after months of seeing his stock at the top level fall to nothing, he still has the chance to get paid an obscene amount to do keepy-ups with his hero, I reckon he takes it.
 

GreatDane

Full Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2019
Messages
1,607
His body seems to be breaking down in a tough league like ours, he was moaning about all the games not long ago, I think he's just making the decision now to take the money and not be constantly worried about the next injury.

Let's not forget he's been playing elite level football since he was 18. He broke through at 16, so he's played a hell of a lot of football for your average 30 year old.
A win-win then for all. I really like him, but with his wages and the number of games he's fit for then I'd rather we get a younger and faster defender in.
 

SER19

Full Member
Joined
Apr 15, 2008
Messages
12,719
All part of an essential overhaul. Ten Hag is still largely playing a mixed bag of players from other managers and needs his own signings combined with developing the talented young players we have.
 

Lash

Full Member
Joined
May 3, 2012
Messages
12,172
Location
Buckinghamshire
Supports
Millwall, Saint-Etienne
A win-win then for all. I really like him, but with his wages and the number of games he's fit for then I'd rather we get a younger and faster defender in.
Agreed, we are very lucky Saudi will probably pay close to what we paid for him. We've clearly earmarked Tobido too, so we can probably do a deal well in advance of the window and with INEOS it will be far smoother than usual. I'd hope for Thuram as well.