Erik ten Hag responds to Raphaël Varane criticism with “difficult” Manchester United claim

Erik ten Hag has previously been criticised for his handling of certain situations when he was manager at Manchester United.

Manchester United parted ways with Erik ten Hag in October 2024 after a disastrous start to the season left them 21st in the Europa League and 13th in the Premier League.

His dismissal came after a 2-1 loss to West Ham, following months of speculation after a disappointing 2023/24 season.

Despite a £200 million summer overhaul and a contract extension, results failed to improve and that led to Ten Hag being sacked.

Ruud van Nistelrooy briefly took charge as interim manager before Ruben Amorim was appointed, though many of the club’s struggles have persisted under his leadership.

Varane criticises Ten Hag’s methods

Ten Hag’s former defender Raphaël Varane has recently reflected on his time under the Dutchman, where he criticised the manager’s approach with some players.

The World Cup winner suggested that the 54-year-old “wanted to gain respect through fear, perhaps” after mentioning the situations with Cristiano Ronaldo and Jadon Sancho.

“He always needed an example of a player who was alone the entire time he was at Manchester,” Varane said.

“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 was another player who became victim to this – with the defender spending two months out of the team after disagreeing with Ten Hag over some of his methods.

Ten Hag responds to Varane criticism

Ten Hag has looked to hit back against this criticism from Varane in a new podcast recorded with his SEG agency this week.

The ex-United boss took time to reflect on his time at Old Trafford and also spoke about some of the difficulties of modern-day management.

Read More: Erik ten Hag’s £52m double signing has backfired, Ruben Amorim has to replace them both

One of the issues he highlighted was the current generation of footballers finding it “difficult to deal with criticism” which seems to be a direct response to Varane’s comments.

“This generation for example they usually finds it difficult to deal with criticism. Criticism really gets to them”, Ten Hag explained.

“The generation that I grew up in had much thicker skin. You could be much more direct.”

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