Medical insider issues ’emergency’ Raphael Varane claim after Man United twist
There were “no issues” in Erik ten Hag starting Raphael Varane for Manchester United this week despite the Frenchman having just nine days to rest between the World Cup final and his Premier League return.
That is the view of medical expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and spoke exclusively to Football Insider about the physical and psychological demands placed on the Red Devils centre-back after such a swift return.
Varane was very fortunate to play any part in the World Cup for France this winter after he left the pitch in tears back in October after suffering a hamstring injury in the Premier League.
However, the 29-year-old was named in Didier Deschamps’ squad and started in every match after the opening group stage clash.
The French centre-back also played 113 minutes in the World Cup final loss to Argentina, and then started for Man United just nine days later against Nottingham Forest.
As quoted by the Manchester Evening News on Tuesday (27 December), Erik ten Hag described Varane’s return as an “emergency” and explained that the player himself had asked to start on Tuesday evening.
Dinnery doesn’t believe there were any physical risks associated with starting Varane against Forest and believes the player will have actually benefitted from his minutes in Qatar.
“In terms of where Varane is now compared to when he went to Qatar, they’ve now got a player in much better shape,” the injury expert told Football Insider’s Sean Fisher.
“The World Cup provided the perfect opportunity and platform for him to get some really solid minutes in his legs and hopefully he can use that as a springboard for the second half of the season.
“Forget the psychological demands of playing at the World Cup and going to the final, but if we just focus on the physicality and the exposure in the number of minutes played then many players inherently didn’t play as many games as they would have in the domestic campaign.
“They’re maintaining that competitive edge and they have an opportunity to keep playing and I think that’ll stand him in really good stead.
“The fact he was back playing in nine days, there are no issues in that.
“Forget the psychological demands and the fatigue and the disappointment of losing that final – if you look at it just from a physical outlook there’s plenty of time for recovery and he’s probably eager to get over the loss and get back to his bread and butter.“
In other news, Manchester United are working on brining in a January signing for over £10million