Ten Hag ‘can’t rely’ on ‘soft’ Man Utd star as ‘agents push’ Red Devils to ‘sack’ Dutch manager | OneFootball

Erik ten Hag alongside Raphael Varane

Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag has been told that he “can’t rely’ on France international Raphael Varane, who “seems a bit soft”.

The Red Devils spent an initial fee of around £34m to sign Varane from Real Madrid in 2021.

This was viewed as a bit of a coup at the time as Varane was once considered to be among the best centre-backs in the world.

The 30-year-old was firmly placed (along with Lisandro Martinez) as Ten Hag’s preferred centre-back last season but he has been hampered by injuries over the past couple of years.

Varane has been in and out of the team at the start of this campaign and he has now slipped behind a resurgent Harry Maguire in the pecking order.

Ex-United defender Paul Parker has warned Ten Hag (who is the favourite in the Premier League sack race) that he “cannot rely” on Varane, who has been “wrong” for “making excuses already”.

“Before the season even started, Varane was already moaning because of the extra minutes being added to the game,” Parker told mybettingsites.

“It was so wrong of him to come out and say that. Maybe, only maybe, I would have understood it, if it came from Martinez because he is a different character than Varane, but when it was coming from him it made absolutely no sense.

“He was making excuses already even though playing a few extra minutes doesn’t make any difference, especially not for him as he never wants to play anyway.

“He seems a bit soft to me and with the amount of games already, something must be wrong. Right now, the manager is letting him sit there on the touchline and there must be a reason for that.

“I don’t know what the reason is and I don’t want to take a guess but there must be a reason why he is doing that.”

Ten Hag is under increasing pressure at the moment as Man Utd have endured a poor start to the 2023/24 campaign.

Man Utd head into Saturday’s home clash against Luton Town needing a win to boost their top-four hopes but Parker reckons agents “are trying to push for them to sack Ten Hag”.

“I think that agents are causing a lot of problems and there are a lot of agents who would love one of their own managers to coach Manchester United,” Parker claimed.

“Especially now with the new ownership, a lot of agents are approaching Man United and trying to push for them to sack Erik ten Hag. It’s cruel but that’s how it is.

“What will happen is that the agent will get some of his players from the same staple as well to sign for Manchester United and then you have this circle of people who are not working for the club but to fill their pockets.”