Primary Position – Centre-Back

Other position(s) – None

Last season’s form – Games 31 / Goals 2

Born in Lille, France in 1993, Varane joined the FC Lens academy at the age of seven and made his senior debut for the club in the 2010/11 season. Despite his best efforts, Lens were relegated to Ligue 2 and Real Madid came calling for the young Frenchman, acquiring his services on a six year contract for a fee of €10 million. After a total of just 38 appearances for the Spanish giants in his first three seasons, Varane saw more consistent gametime over the next seven campaigns, averaging 28 league appearances per season. Hugely successful, he won three La Liga titles, four Champions League and Club World Cup titles with the Los Blancos and was also a mainstay of the French team that won the World Cup in 2018.

A strong, dominant centre-back with pace to burn, Varane is a top class signing who should significantly shore up Man Utd’s backline alongside Maguire. A powerhouse in the air, the Frenchman boasted the fourth highest aerial duel success rate (76%) in Europe, just ahead of Maguire (75.8%). In terms of tackle success rate, his 71.0% bettered Dias (66.7%) who was rated as the Premier League’s top centre-back last season. In terms of goal threat, his numbers are very similar to the Portuguese with both averaging 0.07 expected goals (xG) per match. An average of two goals for the last three seasons means there is some goal threat there as well. Given the quality of the player, it would be no surprise to see Solskjær thrust him straight into the starting line-up and his presence should make all of Man. Utd’s defensive assets much better prospects. 

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