Raphael Varane

Ton of injuries. He can't find his rhythm before he gets injured again. I know people think that you can come back and play at your peak within a couple of weeks of returning from injury... but that's not how it works. Especially for guys who have chronic injury issues because they develop hesitancy for fear of injury.

IF he's able to go a season without any significant injuries (a couple of 2 week injuries are normal) then he'll be back.

Still very young. He needs to adjust something in his training and game though. His body isn't accepting what he's doing right now.

Dude... he had a thigh muscle rupture last May 2016...  not strain, rupture.  He had thigh surgery to sow it back together and he couldn't start doing anything until August.  You don't recover from that very quickly.  It's been sore pretty much the entire season, which is normal.

Problem is that his knee and achilles got injured too.  That's what's keeping him out right now... the achilles.

And that's why they're starting him.  I'm sure Madrid wants to see if he can recover from that thigh surgery.  He was out a month in March because he strained that thigh again.

What a fraud. I fell for this crap as well.

Come on... you have thigh surgery.  That means your hamstring is torn and they need to sow it back...  and you don't think you're going to be step or two slower on takeoffs?  Because that's what happened.  He's afraid to push off as hard as he used to and, instead, he tries to anticipate much earlier and/or give himself more of cushion with his marking (looser marking).  He gets himself to full speed with more strides than he used to basically.

He's had that thigh and knee problem on the same leg going on three years now, which is worrisome. I personally think he needs to drastically change his physical preparation regimen as the current one is not working obviously.

Until he gets confidence back in his legs OR his anticipation becomes spot on mostly (which only happens with experience tbh)...  he's going to be a very good, not great, CB.

Injuries have little to do with his suckage. There have been long stretches of time where he played regularly and still sucked. We're not even talking about speed or stamina here , we're talking about the crazy amount of mistakes he has been doing almost every single game and which have everything to do with intelligence and nothing with physicality. His positioning is off, his game reading is poor and he's generally oblivious to his surroundings.

BUT even if we were to assume that injury-pronitude is the reason he has been so poor in recent years, that's on him too. Fitness is also part of your talent as a professional player. Coentrao at some point was even better than Marcelo, but look at him now. Nobody rates him, and rightly so.

Remember, professional football clubs suffer more than the player when they develop a habit of getting injured every time they exhale. They have to nurse them back to health, then wait on them until they regain their full fitness to start playing like they should. Now, when that happens once, it shouldn't bother anyone. But when it happens all the time, then we have a problem.

Don't expect most of us to be patient with him because we want to win trophies all the time. If the dude is always injured or not playing as well as he should, our chances of winning something take a serious dent.

So whether it's due to injuries or him turning out to be not as good as everyone thought he would, the result is the same: Real Madrid suffers.

Maybe he should go somewhere where there's less expectations because he shouldn't stay at Madrid with his current level and fitness.

Yeah... injuries are irrelevant in sports.  Especially recurring and significant ones with multiple surgeries (knee and thigh). Right.

The man only reads your first sentence and then proceeds to responding. That explains a lot of things

Best CB in the world

@hala

Easily top 5 CBs in the world if not arguably the best in the world and easily the best french CB

Who is that other French scrub barca fans hype up? Umtiti I believe his name is?

Perucho21 wrote:Easily top 5 CBs in the world if not arguably the best in the world and easily the best french CB

Who is that other French scrub barca fans hype up? Umtiti I believe his name is?

Just let him go under the radar while dominating CL games against the best strikers around. He's overrated anyway, I'd rather have Umtiti, Pique or Bailly instead tbh

This guy though

Well and truly an immense second half of the season and just a rock at CB. Liverpool players knew they couldn't outpace him.

If anyone watched Liverpool this year... they're all about making CBs, who are most often bigger and heavier of foot, to have to match their quickness. Rarely worked for Liverpool. Chances mostly came from longer shots and set pieces.

Now, he's well and truly one of the best, if not arguably the best, CB in the world.

He's the Messi of defenders really, so far ahead of the pretenders it's not even funny.

He is a monster. Ramos is the symbol, Varane is the quiet power.

Bailly already dominated a Liverpool side with a Salah that played 90 mins and scored a couple months ago

Varane isn't far behind though

Firenze wrote:Bailly already dominated a Liverpool side with a Salah that played 90 mins and scored a couple months ago

Varane isn't far behind though

What is wrong with you and who is Bailly ?

jibers wrote:He is a monster. Ramos is the symbol, Varane is the quiet power.

They're the perfect combo actually. Ramos bring that grit, toughness and fire. Varane brings the tactical awareness, pace and calm presence.

It's really been a beauty to watch when both are in there (not very often sadly).

Went from being a bit overrated when he was younger to being quite underrated now.

Absolute beast. Best CB in the world. His credentials at just 25 are amazing.

Remember when some Madrid fans here wanted him sold because he missed a few games due to injury?

Numptiest fanbase in sports tbh.

He was brilliant tonight.

If Mbappe is going to be the next A1 attacker, this guy is going to be the next A1 defender

But who's the next A1 midfielder?

Kaladin wrote:If Mbappe is going to be the next A1 attacker, this guy is going to be the next A1 defender

But who's the next A1 midfielder?

According to sports that kid from Lyon Aouar

Anyway, Varane has been playing like this since 2012, it's baffling that only now he is getting recognition. Best central defender in the world by a country mile