Thierry Henry confirms Raphaël Varane injury Man United suspected in 2021

Raphaël Varane is currently in his fourth season at Manchester United, but Thierry Henry has explained a problem he was experiencing back in 2021.

Many were surprised when Raphaël Varane, at the age of 28, switched from Real Madrid to Manchester United for a transfer fee of around £34 million.

The five-times Champions League winner explained that he wanted a fresh challenge, and joining United as part of Ole Gunnar Solskjær‘s rebuilding of the club was the perfect opportunity to play and compete for trophies in England.

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However, with the now internationally-retired Frenchman playing as part of Erik ten Hag’s cohort at Old Trafford and often unavailable due to injuries, France legend Thierry Henry has explained that Real Madrid must be given credit for how well they move players on at the right time.

“There’s one thing you have to give them [Real Madrid] a lot of credit for, the ability they have to make sure they build a team with keeping some of the old guard with them to make sure that they can explain to the guys coming, the young guys coming,” the Arsenal legend said on CBS Sports.

“If you look at it, if [Kylian] Mbappe goes there, they’re going to have a team that can be dominating Europe and dominating their league for maybe six to seven years because they’ll all be young, Mbappe, Vinicius Junior, if Mbappe goes there, Rodrygo, [Federico] Valverde, [Aurelien] Tchouameni.”

Speaking further, Henry explained that despite the surprise many had when Madrid let Varane go to United, it was the right time – confirming that Varane, in fact, had a knee issue.

“The one thing they do ever so well is they know when to get rid of players. I am not talking about the players that are logical to get rid of. I am talking about it was time for [Cristiano] Ronaldo. It was time for Casemiro. It was time for [Mesut] Ozil. It was time for Varane, which was more, I think, of a knee issue, if I understand well.”

According to The Athletic, United were aware of this knee issue at the time, but they chose to pursue the deal anyway due to Varane’s brilliance over the course of his career at Madrid.