Raphaël Varane has mentioned he was “stunned” by the Manchester United‘s hierachy’s resolution to supply Erik ten Hag a brand new contract final summer season as his bond with the squad was deeply fractured by that time.
The previous France worldwide’s time at Previous Trafford overlapped with Ten Hag’s two full seasons on the membership, the place he gained the Carabao Cup and FA Cup.
The latter, which got here in a dire 2023-24 season that noticed United end eighth within the Premier League, rescued Ten Hag’s job and noticed him supplied a one-year extension on his deal. However simply 4 months on, the Dutchman was fired after a dismal begin to the season that noticed United win 4 of their first 13 video games.
“I used to be stunned he stayed,” Varane mentioned in an interview with The Athletic. “The reference to the group not existed.”
Varane spoke of sharing an advanced relationship with Ten Hag. He was first-choice centre-back within the Dutchman’s first season on the membership however discovered himself relegated to a bench position for a big chunk of the next marketing campaign. The World Cup winner mentioned he wasn’t supplied with any motive for his dropping.
“We had a sturdy dialogue. We advised one another some truths, however then I did not play for nearly two months. I mentioned I did not agree with sure methods of doing issues relating to the connection between him and the group,” he mentioned.
“It wasn’t one thing that I believed was good for the group as a result of among the gamers weren’t in any respect glad. It was not good by way of the connection with the coach.
“He mentioned ‘OK, I hear what you mentioned’ and after that I did not play.”
Ten Hag additionally had tense relationships with Cristiano Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho, and Varane mentioned he believes battle was a tenet of his administration model.
The ex-Actual Madrid defender fought off competitors and accidents in the direction of the top of the 2023-24 season, and performed a key position within the win over Manchester Metropolis within the FA Cup remaining. He was eager to take up the choice in his contract to stay at United for one more 12 months however after conversations with the membership, realised they weren’t on the identical web page.
“I did not know who the coach can be. I did not know in the event that they wished to alter the squad rather a lot or not. I had no visibility, so it is tough to commit when you do not know precisely what you are committing to,” he mentioned.
“At Madrid, they’ve an outlined manner of doing issues at each stage of the membership. At Manchester [United], it was not clear or outlined sufficient to know recruit, play, talk. There weren’t the identical procedures, processes, construction,” he added.
Varane joined Serie A facet Como on a free switch however within the aftermath of a knee harm 20 minutes into his debut, he introduced his retirement from the game on the age of 31.
