Former Manchester United defender Raphael Varane had some very harsh criticism of previous manager Erik Ten Hag in an explosive interview published on Wednesday.
The World Cup winner played under Ten Hag for two seasons at the club, winning the Carabao Cup in 2023 and the FA Cup in 2024, playing a huge part in both cup winning United sides. Varane left the club in June 2024 with the FA Cup being the last 90 minutes he would play professionally. Despite signing for Como in July he would only feature for them once, going off injured after 26 minutes and ultimately ending his on pitch career.
Varane had expected the now former Manchester United to follow suit in leaving the club last June. Instead, Ten Hag would sign a new deal at the club but due to a terrible start to the season, he was sacked in October with Man Utd sitting 14th in the table on 11 points. Speaking to Charlotte Harpur in the Athletic, Varane expressed his surprise over the decision to keep Ten Hag on after the FA Cup win.
“I was surprised he stayed. The connection with the team no longer existed,” the Frenchman told Athletic.
Raphael said he was not a fan of Ten Hag’s man-management which could be classed as old school and one that doesn't resonate with the modern day footballer.
“He 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.”
The four times Champions League winner felt that Ten Hag's ways led to himself and other players in the group having a tense relationship with the Dutchman.
On the relationship Varane said:
“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.”
Given the egos in that Manchester United, it is no surprise that Ten Hag did not succeed at Old Trafford.
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Varane on being dropped by Ten Hag
Varane was dropped from the starting XI between October and December 2023 after a ‘robust’ conversation. Jonny Evans, Victor Lindelöf and even Luke Shaw had overtaken him in the pecking order during that period.
On the conversation he stated, “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.
He also added, “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 ‘Okay, I hear what you said’ and after that I didn’t play."
Although Varane spoke mainly about the difficult periods under the former Ajax manager, he felt there were also some good moments between the pair.
“I also have to recognise what was good. 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.We had ups and downs. I can’t say everything was bad. There were complicated moments.” Raphael told the Athletic.
