Sir Jim Ratcliffe could now overrule Ten Hag at Man Utd with Varane decision

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·1 December 2023

Sir Jim Ratcliffe could now overrule Ten Hag at Man Utd with Varane decision

Manchester United's prospective minority shareholder, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, could be eager to keep Raphael Varane at Old Trafford.
Head coach Erik ten Hag has denied reports that he has fallen out with the experienced Red Devils centre-back.
Man Utd head into the 2024 winter transfer market, potentially looking to strengthen four departments of their squad.

Manchester United’s prospective minority shareholder, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, will want to keep Raphael Varane at Old Trafford despite rumours of a fallout with head coach Erik ten Hag, as transfer insider Dean Jones considers the centre-back’s future.

The Red Devils have enjoyed a mixed start to the 2023/24 Premier League season and find their hopes of progression to the Champions League knockout stages hanging by a thread.

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Varane has struggled to get going for Man Utd during the current campaign, having seen his progress halted by several injuries, meaning ten Hag has been forced to rotate his backline. Rumours of a fallout have surfaced since October, hinting that the experienced defender’s future could lie away from Old Trafford.

Varane and ten Hag’s relationship questioned

Manchester United signed Varane from Real Madrid in August 2021 in a deal worth £41m, as then-manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer looked to build a team capable of challenging Manchester City for the Premier League title. However, the Norwegian head coach would be sacked in November of that year, with Ralf Rangnick taking charge until the end of the 2021/22 campaign.

Man Utd couldn’t perform to their highest standards during Varane’s debut campaign and would finish trophyless, alongside a sixth-place finish in the Premier League. Despite several setbacks, meaning the 30-year-old missed sections of the season, ten Hag’s first full term at the helm proved more productive, achieving a third-place finish in the top flight alongside a Carabao Cup triumph. Varane has struggled for regular minutes due to injury and form during the 2023/24 campaign, starting in just 31% of Premier League fixtures before Man Utd’s trip to Newcastle United on 2nd December.

On 24th November, ten Hag claimed that rumours of a fallout between him and Varane were false. Reports in October suggested that the head coach and defender were barely on speaking terms. Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano has recently told GIVEMESPORT (29th November) that Varane is not desperate to leave Man Utd during the 2024 winter transfer window, despite reported interest from Bayern Munich.

Dean Jones update on Raphael Varane

Jones claims that Ratcliffe will want to see experienced players with a history of winning trophies remain at Man Utd and will want to know why Varane is not in the team currently. The transfer insider finds it “hard to believe” that the one-time World Cup winner could leave in January, although he doesn’t rule out a summer 2024 move. Jones told GIVEMESPORT:

“Ratcliffe is going to come in, and he's going to want Varane to be part of the picture. Man Utd barely have any experience within the squad. Look at how many players there are aged 30 years old or upwards. There’s barely any. There are hardly any players who have ever won anything in their lives. So, he will want to know why ten Hag and Varane have any friction between them if that is the case and, if not, why Varane is out of the team right now. “I think by the end of the season, it might well be a case of Varane looking for a new club, but I find it hard to believe that he's going to move on in January because I think United are going to need him, and I think it's a difficult time anyway to get the right move.”

Man Utd transfer news

With the 2024 winter transfer window upon us, Manchester United could be considering moves in the new year to bolster their chances of qualification for the 2024/25 Champions League campaign. One player who is unlikely to switch to Old Trafford in the new year is Inter and Argentina international Lautaro Martinez.

According to 90min, Manchester United and Chelsea had expressed an interest in signing the striker, who is currently in the final 18 months of his contract at the San Siro. However, Martinez is expected to pen a new deal with the Serie A giants, committing his future to Inter and ruling out a move to the Premier League in January.

Meanwhile, The Guardian journalist Jacob Steinberg reports that Manchester United hope to strengthen four positions during the winter market. Sofyan Amrabat’s early-season struggles could prompt the club to shelve out for another defensive midfielder, whilst a right-sided centre-back, a number eight and centre-forward remain on the priority list.

After Manchester United’s trip to Newcastle on 2nd December, they welcome Chelsea and AFC Bournemouth to Old Trafford on the 6th and the 9th, respectively. Ten Hag must then prepare his side for the visit of Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich on 12th December, hoping that an unlikely victory is coupled with a positive result in the match featuring Copenhagen and Galatasaray to secure their progression to the knockout stages of the Champions League.