Raphael Varane remembers clearly the moment, 23 minutes into his debut for Serie A side Como.
He made a very simple movement and as soon as he felt his left knee go, he knew: time to stop.
“They told me not to react impulsively,” says Varane, sitting in Como’s trophy room six months later, “but, deep down, I knew.”
Nearly 12 years ago, playing for Real Madrid, Varane tore the meniscus in his right knee and required surgery. The former France international subsequently altered his posture, assembled a support team to help him improve his balance, pushed himself to physical extremes and slightly tweaked his way of playing, tackling less and anticipating more.
After that, he won the 2018 World Cup with France, as well as three consecutive Champions League titles (to give him four in total) with Madrid from 2016 to 2018.
So when he injured his left knee that Sunday night last August, in a Coppa Italia first-round tie against Sampdoria, the one which had been compensating for his right all those years, he saw it as a sign. “I thought, ‘It’s fed up and tired’.”
After making 360 appearances in 10 years for Madrid, where he won 18 trophies, and then 95 appearances for Manchester United where he won the Carabao Cup and FA Cup (as well as playing 93 times for France, winning the 2020-21 Nations League and also reaching the 2022 World Cup final), before joining the Italian side as a free agent in July, the 31-year-old decided to hang up his boots.
Despite feeling disappointed and a bit guilty at not helping Como more on the pitch, he has accepted his situation and is ready for his new role as a member of their board. He is supporting the club’s youth development and this summer will welcome youngsters to residential camps in Como which pair football with culture.
Como’s Giuseppe Sinigaglia stadium earlier this season (Mairo Cinquetti/NurPhoto via Getty Images).
When The Athletic visits, thick cloud and light drizzle, reminiscent of Manchester’s climate, hide the mountains that form a backdrop to Como’s stadium in northern Italy, an hour from Milan. But this is Varane’s ideal weather for training. The former centre-back, who still lives in Madrid, continues to keep fit in retirement — going to the gym, running and playing padel. Nothing, however, can replace the rush of football’s biggest stage, facing forwards such as Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo.
“There’s always that adrenaline, that tension, that stress,” Varane says. “But that’s when I played my best matches. You’re more focused because you know you can’t afford to make any mistakes. That forces you to raise your game.”
He clearly misses it, but takes pleasure in other football-related pursuits, such as this youth project with Como. “It’s just different; it’s not better or worse, it’s another life.”
In our interview, he talks candidly about:
- Why Madrid’s players barely spoke to each other on the pitch
- How he developed his style of defending
- How the coaching styles at Madrid and United differed
- His relationship with United manager Erik ten Hag and their “robust discussion”
- His gratitude at playing a part in United winning last season’s FA Cup
- Why he was “surprised” United retained Ten Hag after that game
- There being “too many people involved in the decision-making” at United.
In his former life with Real Madrid, Raphael Varane stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, Luka Modric, Marcelo, Sergio Ramos and Cristiano Ronaldo. “You feel like you’re a gladiator, or a soldier on a mission,” he says. “When you step onto the field, you’re ready to give everything you’ve got to win.”
That Madrid side’s winning formula, he believes, was their talent as a generation, all in their prime, but also the stability among a squad full of leaders, and their shared mentality.
“Psychologically, we never thought we were favourites,” Varane says. “We had to be on another level, like when smaller sides take on big teams. It’s a mixture of playing with humility — we had to achieve something every time — and a bit of arrogance. We knew our strengths but we were not overconfident. If we slackened off just a little bit, it was all over.”
What was remarkable to Varane was that the Madrid players barely spoke to each other out on the pitch. “Everyone knew exactly what they had to do. Sometimes we pressed, sometimes we didn’t, and in fact nobody gave a signal. There were matches that for the first 30 minutes you sensed things weren’t going well, we were blocked and the space was elsewhere. We changed without even talking.”
Madrid were flexible in their setup, unpredictable in terms of approach.
“When you started the match, you didn’t know exactly how you were going to play. We didn’t just play or press one way. Sometimes we attacked even when we didn’t expect to, but we saw an opening and went for it.”
Varane with the Champions League trophy in 2017 (Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images)
He adds: “We were a very instinctive team. That’s why I consider it an art. It’s not robotic. There are always surprises. An action that worked one time may not work again. You always have to reinvent, rediscover, adapt.”
Varane’s style of play was all about instinct. At the start of his career back in France with Lens, defenders were seen, in his words, as an “aggressive player who was dirty, rough, and stepped on the attacker’s toes”. But that changed, and what had been perceived by some as his weakness as a youngster became his strength. Don Limpio — Mr Clean, after a brand of household detergent — was the nickname Spanish media gave the Frenchman. “I made very few mistakes and didn’t pick up many cards (24 in his 10 seasons). I didn’t force situations. My movements were about sensing where the danger lies.”
His favourite defensive action was all about anticipation. There was nothing more satisfying for Varane than reading an attacker’s run, getting ahead of them and nicking the ball. “Anticipate to defend, so you don’t even have a duel,” he says. “That’s the best way, because the attacker feels disarmed and helpless. He couldn’t even fight. Sometimes they’d say, ‘I didn’t even play the ball’.” On one occasion, when he caught out Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, the former Arsenal and Barcelona striker said, “You’re fast.”
Varane used his speed to cover for his fellow defenders. “You try to get forward but you know the danger is behind. You can’t get caught out. I liked to anticipate the balls in behind. Sometimes there were players who would disguise the pass.” Varane says he looked for telltale details such as the opponent’s body position upon receiving the ball. “I don’t know if he’s going to play the pass, but he could play it and I’m already anticipating.”
When Varane watches football now, he focuses on players’ attitude when the ball is on the other side of the pitch. Are they ready? For him, that is what distinguishes the best players. “There were games where, for 10 or 15 minutes, I didn’t touch the ball and yet I was concentrating non-stop,” he says. “I did a lot of moving that you didn’t necessarily see, and that’s why most of my work was invisible.”
It was under Carlo Ancelotti that Varane won the first of his four Champions League trophies with Madrid, in the 2013-14 season to complete La Decima (the club’s 10th European title), in a setup that allowed each player to express their creativity. “He’s very close to the players, understands them and knows how to make them feel comfortable and confident on the pitch,” he says of Ancelotti, now back at the Bernabeu for a second spell that has seen him win two more Champions League finals.
Varane found Zinedine Zidane, the legendary French player who steered Madrid to nine trophies as head coach from 2016 to 2018, to be similar. “Very calm, positive, always ready to defend his players. When a coach gives his players confidence like that, the players want to reciprocate.”
After a decade at the Spanish giants though, Varane moved on. “I felt I couldn’t do any more than I had already, I couldn’t develop in the way I wanted. Madrid was exceptional, but I’d already done it.”
After winning the World Cup with France in 2018 (Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images)
He wanted a new challenge and was attracted by the Premier League. In the summer of 2021, he swapped Real Madrid for Manchester United, two teams in very different situations. “It was a club that always made me dream. The stadium, the fans, what it represents.” Varane was enticed by the idea of building something, and wanted to use his experience to help United try to win trophies.
In his first season, he played under three managers: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Michael Carrick (a short spell in caretaker charge) and Ralf Rangnick (an interim appointment from the December). Erik ten Hag was then named as the next permanent manager in April 2022 to take over for that summer. His coaching style was a stark contrast to Varane’s Madrid experience.
“It was the opposite,” he says, “with fairly rigid patterns of play defined in advance. There was very little flexibility in terms of adapting on the pitch. The game plans were very, very precise, with lots and lots of information. It was different.”
As an instinctive player, Varane preferred more autonomy, which he had at his previous club and with France. “We could say to each other, ‘You have to do it more like this’, instead of a system that was, let’s say, a bit blocked by the coach’s instructions.”
Varane describes his relationship with Ten Hag as “a bit idiosyncratic”. “It’s hard to find the right words. It was very tense at times. Sometimes he made an effort to listen to the players’ feedback. Sometimes he made decisions without listening to the players’ feelings. So there were ups and downs. It was complicated at times.”
Varane was Ten Hag’s first-choice centre-back in that 2022-23 season but from the October to mid-December of the following campaign he did not start a game, despite being available. He played only 18 minutes in nine league games during that period and did not feature in a Manchester derby which United lost 3-0 to City at Old Trafford. At the time, Ten Hag told the media it was for “tactical reasons”. It was perceived by some at the club that Varane could not cope physically with the manager’s desire to play a high line. United were left with a high press but a low-block defence, which left big gaps in between.
According to Varane, Ten Hag did not offer him an explanation for leaving him out, other than it was for the best of the team. “We had a robust discussion. We told each other some truths, but then I didn’t play for almost two months. I said I didn’t agree with certain ways of doing things regarding the relationship between him and the team. It wasn’t something that I thought was good for the team because some of the players weren’t at all satisfied. It was not good in terms of the relationship with the coach.
“He said ‘OK, I hear what you said’ and after that I didn’t play.”
Varane did not feel Ten Hag was making an example of him but he did with other players and cited Cristiano Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho as examples. He believes Ten Hag “wanted to gain respect through fear, perhaps”. “He always needed an example of a player who was alone the entire time he was at Manchester. He did that with at least one important player on the team. He was always in conflict with certain leaders of the group. That is his way of managing.”
Varane felt the team was “blocked’ by Ten Hag’s rigidity (Darren Staples/AFP/Getty Images)
While that is Varane’s perspective, other players, such as Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo blossomed under Ten Hag, while Casemiro, another who won trophies galore with Real Madrid before a move to Old Trafford, has told Spanish outlet AS that his first season at United (2022-23) was his best as a professional.
When Varane was brought back into the team just before Christmas, he felt it was because United were struggling with injuries, rather than any reconciliation. He played 90 minutes in 10 of the next 12 league games, missing one because of illness. But in the April he suffered a muscle injury and was sidelined for seven more matches.
Asked about why United struggled with injuries, Varane, an advocate for player welfare who has spoken out about the dangers of an increasingly demanding playing schedule and the consequences of concussion, says “it’s not just Manchester United’s problem, it’s a global problem. Things are getting worse and worse. It’s a system that has put the players in the red zone”.
Varane managed to return to fitness in time for the FA Cup final at the end of May.
“I also have to recognise what was good (about Ten Hag’s management). He gave me the peace of mind to come back from my injury to play in the FA Cup final. He was counting on me. That was very positive, because it allowed me to play my role in the team,” says Varane. “We had ups and downs. I can’t say everything was bad. There were complicated moments.”
Winning the FA Cup at Wembley by beating local rivals Manchester City in his final game for United was a special moment for Varane and the team, especially after a difficult season overall. “The players really came together for the same goal with a clear idea of how to play,” he says. “It is not only an individual achievement but a collective one, to make the players believe that it was possible. The players accepted the challenge and managed to forget everything negative that had happened to really be 100 per cent in this match.
“I wanted the best for the team. Sometimes I said things to the coach, not for me, but for the team, or because players felt things. The FA Cup (final) was not about proving something to him at all. My motivation was to achieve with the team, to make the fans happy and above all to experience this feeling of entering the pitch as a gladiator who returns victorious. It’s the best feeling.”
The build-up to United’s 2-1 victory, however, was dominated by uncertainty over Ten Hag’s future. The manager admitted after the game that he “didn’t know” whether it had been his last match in charge, but following an end-of-season review, led by United’s new co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS business empire’s sporting director Sir Dave Brailsford, Ten Hag was kept on. “I was surprised he stayed,” says Varane. “The connection with the group no longer existed.”
Varane’s contract ran until 2024, with an option for a further season. He wanted to stay for another year but during conversations, which involved United’s then football director John Murtough and Brailsford, it was clear that club and player were not aligned. “I didn’t know who the coach would be. I didn’t know if they wanted to change the squad a lot or not. I had no visibility, so it’s difficult to commit when you don’t know exactly what you’re committing to.”
The two parties mutually agreed to end his contract and Varane left as a free agent. “It wasn’t problematic,” he says.
Varane’s three years at United spanned a turbulent period at the club and his time ended just after the arrival of INEOS. He noted, however, key differences in the running of the organisation compared with how it was done at Madrid.
Varane with the FA Cup last year (Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images)
“Even from the inside as a player, there wasn’t a clear structure on how things were going to work. There hasn’t been a fixed methodology for years. At Madrid, they have a defined way of doing things at every level of the club. At Manchester(United), it was not clear or defined enough to know how to recruit, how to play, how to communicate. There weren’t the same procedures, processes, structure.
“It’s not one person’s responsibility. That’s the problem — we don’t even know whose fault it is. It has to be in the overall structure of the organisation. There were too many people involved in the decision-making process, so we didn’t know who was really making the decisions. I can’t say who was responsible, I don’t know. It was a bit of everyone and a bit of no one.”
Varane uses structuring a squad as an example of the clubs’ differing approaches.
“At Madrid, you can see that for years there has been a framework. A player is added, some leave, but there is always a solid foundation. When you recruit young, talented players, they have to learn before they can play. It gives them time to develop. When I arrived, at the age of 18, I had no responsibilities in the dressing room. I was just there to learn.
“At United, they can recruit a very expensive young player and immediately play him, with all the responsibilities in an extremely difficult league. He’s got a huge weight on his shoulders straight away.”
Varane also feels United have “succumbed to the pressure of expectation”. “You have to be able to build a long-term strategy while resisting the daily pressure and matches every three days. That’s what’s difficult. For years, the fans have been expecting to win immediately. Those who take the decisions to achieve these goals want to achieve them straight away.
“You have to be calm in a storm in the knowledge you are building something. Sometimes, when the storm came, we needed to make quick decisions, change something. At Real Madrid, people accept the pressure and know how to live with it.
“When I say that the players are in the best conditions at Madrid, it’s because we’re trying to protect them from that pressure. There’s enough pressure already playing on the pitch, with the fans, media and social media. That’s why there was a bit of a protective atmosphere around the players at Madrid. It’s the club where there’s undoubtedly the most pressure. But whether it’s the coach, or the way the club handles difficult situations, it’s really a protection against that pressure. At Manchester, that wasn’t the case.”
During those years at United, Varane shared the dressing room with his best friend in football, Bruno Fernandes, who along with David de Gea and Marcus Rashford, were the players at the club who impressed him the most. “Even in difficult moments, they are capable of doing extraordinary things. It’s difficult to perform well individually when the team is struggling. You have to be very very strong,” he says.
Varane in his new role, hosting actor Hugh Grant at a Como match (Jacopo M. Raule/Getty Images/Como 1907)
Varane has mixed views regarding United academy graduate Rashford’s recent loan move to fellow Premier League side Aston Villa, only a couple of hours by car from Old Trafford, for the rest of the season.
“Staying for so many years with this level of intensity and demand, years when the overall atmosphere is often negative because performances are below expectations, it’s very, very difficult. For him to change his environment is positive. He is someone who loves the club and who gives everything for the shirt. But I’m surprised he’s going (to a club) so close to Manchester. I imagined him going further than a few kilometres away.”
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Despite some of his frustrations, Varane has fond memories of his time in Manchester and says he had an overall positive experience. He learnt a lot and loved the fans’ pride and the respect they had for the United players. “It was a huge source of motivation and we wanted to repay the love they gave us on the pitch,” he says. “We were ready to fight and even in difficult situations, we never gave up.”
Varane describes United as an “exceptional, magical and unique” club. “I have so much respect and love for the club that I can only be positive. Even when I say things that aren’t going well, it’s well intentioned and constructive. It’s not to point the finger at someone. I only wish the club well and hope they succeed.”
(Top photos: Como 1907; design: Eamonn Dalton)
