“I said I didn’t agree” – Former Man United star reveals “very tense” relationship with Erik ten Hag

Former Manchester United defender Raphael Varane has spoken out on his tense relationship with former Red Devils manager Erik ten Hag.

Varane recently retired from football after a bad injury, and it’s fair to say his great career at the highest level didn’t end that smoothly with his spell at Old Trafford.

The former France international won the Champions League four times at Real Madrid, and was also a World Cup winner with his country in 2022.

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Still, he was one of many to struggle with the structure at Man Utd, and it seems he had issues with Ten Hag in particular.

The 31-year-old has now spoken about these difficulties in an interview with the Athletic, explaining that he and the Dutch tactician had some disagreements as he then found himself out of favour in the team.

Raphael Varane on “very tense” relationship with Erik ten Hag at Man United

“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,” Varane said.

“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. 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.

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“He said ‘OK, I hear what you said’ and after that I didn’t play.”

United certainly didn’t seem like a particularly happy place under Ten Hag, so these claims from Varane perhaps won’t come as a big surprise to a lot of the club’s fans.