Manchester United have been dealt another injury blow to defender Raphael Varane, after he was ruled out for a month with a hamstring injury.
The central defender picked up a groin injury while on international duty with France last month and subsequently missed the club’s three fixtures against Leicester, Atalanta and Liverpool.
He made a return to the first-team squad for the 3-0 win over Tottenham at the weekend, starting in the centre of a back three.
But after being named in the lineup for the midweek clash against Atalanta in match day four of the Champions League, Varane went down in the first half with a hamstring problem.
The 28-year-old was immediately replaced by Mason Greenwood with United 1-0 down at the time, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer opting to switch to a 4-2-3-1 formation to chase the game.
It was revealed by the manager after the game that initial checks “didn’t look good” and now it has been confirmed that Varane will miss a month of action with a hamstring problem.
The severity of the injury means that should the initial diagnosis of a month prove correct, Varane will miss games against Manchester City, Watford, Chelsea, Arsenal and Villarreal as well as the upcoming internationals.
It couldn’t be worse timing for the Reds, with Harry Maguire in shocking form currently and Victor Lindelof picking up an injury earlier this week too.
Varane’s return coincided with United’s second clean sheet of the season, and their first since Varane featured in the 1-0 win over Wolves. With such important fixtures coming up and the manager’s job on the line according to reports, Solskjaer will have to do without his best defender.
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