Manchester United showed great character to pick up three points against Nottingham Forest but that win has come at the cost of an injury to Raphael Varane.
United came from 2-0 down to win the match 3-2 but the Frenchman was taken off at halftime to be replaced by Victor Lindelof. The centre-back played only 45 minutes and Erik ten Hag revealed after the match that Varane was withdrawn because he complained of an injury.
He said after the match: “He had complaints. We didn’t want to risk him. I don’t know if it is bad. We have to wait.”
Lindelof did a great job as the replacement but hopefully, the injury to Varane is not serious because next up, Manchester United will face Arsenal and if the Frenchman is missing in that game then it will be a big blow for Erik ten Hag.
United will head to North London next Sunday so Raphael Varane has one full week to recover but we are confident that unless he’s 100% fit, Ten Hag will not risk him against attackers like Saka and Martinelli.
Manchester United have Harry Maguire in their ranks but the England international has fallen down the pecking order this season and if Raphael Varane is unavailable then the United manager will mostly rely on the pairing of Lindelof and Martinez next weekend.
The extent of the injury will only be known on Monday when the players return to Carrington but Lindelof did more than a decent job in the second half against Forest so Ten Hag won’t be too concerned over the immediate fitness of Varane.
The overall fitness of the squad is a major problem though because Raphael Varane now joins Luke Shaw and Mason Mount in the treatment room. Both Shaw and Mount are going to be sidelined for a couple of weeks and looking at Varane’s injury record, the centre-back could very easily miss two or three matches.
