Manchester United defender Raphael Varane is very close to making a full recovery and the 30-year-old could be back in action in no time.
The French defender picked up a muscle injury during United’s draw against Sevilla last month and since then, he’s been recovering on the sidelines.
The initial update said that Raphael Varane will be out of action for a few weeks and his manager has now updated that he could be back within the next fortnight.
“The prognosis, I think Rapha is closer than Scott McTominay in this moment,” Ten Hag told the press on Wednesday. “But still they are, for the coming two games [Brighton and West Ham], they are not available.”
After the Brighton game and the West Ham United game, Manchester United will face Wolves and if everything goes according to plan then Raphael Varane will be in the matchday squad on the 13th of May.
Varane and Lisandro Martinez are both out with injuries and this has been a big setback for Erik ten Hag. Martinez is ruled out for the remainder of the season but once Raphael Varane comes back then a lot of stability will come back into Man United’s defence.
Varane and Licha are one of the key reasons why Manchester United have had such a stellar season and whenever these two haven’t played, the Red Devils have looked all over the place in defence.
Lindelof and Maguire had moved up the pecking order after the first-choice defensive pair was out injured but Harry Maguire was quickly pushed back to the bench and right now full-back Luke Shaw is playing alongside Lindelof.
Raphael Varane’s return will be a big boost for the manager but it will also be a big selection dilemma because Varane is the right-sided centre-back and that position has not been a major cause of concern for Man United. Victor Lindelof has done more than a decent job in that role so once Raphael Varane comes back, ETH will have to decide whether he wants to push Lindelof to the left side or does he sent the Swedish international to the bench and keep relying on Luke Shaw.
Whatever happens, Harry Maguire will be the biggest loser once the French World Cup winning defender is back in the squad because Maguire has been really poor during these past few weeks and it’s very evident that Erik ten Hag has lost all faith in his club captain.
