Henry sheds new light on Real Madrid being keen to sell Varane to Man Utd
Thierry Henry has lauded Real Madrid for offloading Raphael Varane to Manchester United at the right time amid his injury issues.
The Red Devils acquired Varane, 30, back in the summer of 2021 and the France defender has made 89 appearances in total. However, the former World Cup winner's time at Old Trafford has been plagued by injuries, mainly to his knee.
While Varane has struggled with fitness issues, Real Madrid have assembled a team capable of dominating Europe in his absence. Their current squad features a number of players yet to hit their prime and there is also the possibility that the Spanish giants will finally snare long-term target Kylian Mbappe in the summer.
Henry has commended the club's ability to spot the opportune moment for moving players on and cited Varane as an example. He told CBS Sports: "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.
"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.
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"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.
"But if you think about those three – [Luka] Modric, [Toni] Kroos and Casemiro – they sold the youngest one. Why would you sell the youngest one? Well, they notified that those two can help the Valverde, the Tchouameni, [Eduardo] Camavinga and they do that ever-so-well and you have to give them credit because when you get rid of the players that I mentioned before, they were outstanding players at that time for your team."
Join the debate! Should Man Utd sell Varane in the summer? Let us know here.
Varane is expected to leave Manchester United as a free agent in the summer (Getty Images)Despite impressing initially in the Premier League, Varane has fallen down the pecking order at Old Trafford this term. The defender's long-term future is also far from certain after the club declined to take up the one-year option in the veteran's contract.
It was reported back in January that Varane felt he was being forced out of the club amid plans to renegotiate his contract on reduced terms. As things stand, it's expected he will leave the club as a free agent at the end of the season.
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