Former Manchester United defender Jaap Stam has questioned Raphael Varane’s emotional reaction to the injury he suffered vs Chelsea.
The France international has started the last nine Premier League matches but hobbled off at Stamford Bridge in the second half of the 1-1 draw. And with just a month until the World Cup in Qatar gets underway, Varane instantly feared the worst and was visibly crying as he made his way down the tunnel.
It has since emerged that the 29-year-old could yet make it into Didier Deschamps’ squad with an estimated recovery of three or four weeks. A report from ESPN claims results from an initial MRI scan were not as bad as expected, with the results showing he had suffered a lesion of the femoral bicep in his thigh muscle.
Speaking before the severity of the injury had been disclosed, ex-Red Devils centre-back Stam explained that he didn’t understand Varane’s reaction, claiming “there are things worse than this”.
He told Premier League Productions: “He was very emotional. He fell down, was just laying on the pitch and after he stood up he was very emotional.
“When I saw it, it looked like he had a problem with his hamstring. But of course, we don’t know yet. I don’t know what to say about this, he probably thinks he is a doubt for the World Cup or whatever, but I can’t understand being so emotional on the pitch.
“You try to imagine yourself why a player is so emotional and why he is acting like that and I…I think there are other things that are worse than this.”
Ten hag was significantly more empathetic with his view of the incident and said: “I can understand, we can all probably understand he would be emotional [if he is out of the World Cup], but I think he also has to wait.
“You don’t know [how bad it is]. Of course he is experienced, but [the] medical [staff] have to do their job, have to make the assessment and set the right diagnosis, and then from there on can come to a conclusion.”
France’s quest to the retain the World Cup they won in 2018 begins against Australia on November 22, meaning Varane still has an outside chance of being fit by then. However, former Les Bleus boss Raymond Domenech advised Deschamps that he shouldn’t repeat mistakes from the past by picking unfit players.
“He could probably take Varane to the World Cup. But if we ask ourselves if he should take him, then no,” Domenech told L’Equipe via GFFN. “You don’t take someone who will completely pollute the whole preparation.
“We saw it in 2004 with Marcel Desailly, in 2008 with Patrick Vieira, I had it with William Gallas in 2010, and there was Zinédine Zidane in 2002. We don’t know if these players will be ready or not. It’s always the same, the group is polluted. I cited four examples from four different competitions for which we screwed up each time.”
