Varane faces spell on sidelines

MANCHESTER. — Manchester United summer signing Raphael Varane has been ruled out of Saturday’s trip to Leicester City.

He picked up what appears to be a thigh injury during the recent UEFA Nations League final.

The France stalwart helped Didier Deschamps’ side topple Spain to win the entire tournament, but injured himself in the process - limping out of action just before the half-time whistle.

Varane was then spotted watching the rest of the contest from the comfort of the substitutes bench with an ice pack wrapped around his thigh.

United boss, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, will be concerned by the manner in which his central defender picked up the injury, which was not a result of any kind of impact or collision with another player.

The 28-year-old pulled up as he was racing back towards his own goal to intercept a cross, his attempts to power through afterwards in vain as he could not carry on and was replaced just before the interval.

The Old Trafford faithful will not be pleased with the latest reports emerging from France over Varane’s fitness, with L’Equipe claiming the former Real Madrid star will need to be sidelined for a number of days to recover.

Varane’s first series of fitness tests have confirmed the defender sustained a strain to the right adductor muscle and is unlikely to be ready to take on Leicester at the King Power Stadium on Saturday.

Traditionally, grade one adductor tears will put a player out of action for around two weeks at a time.

United are planning on putting the defender through further tests to get a clearer picture of the severity of the injury and determine for just how long Varane could be unavailable.

The Frenchman only arrived back at United’s Carrington training base yesterday morning, where he will be assessed by the Red Devils medical team.

United are preparing to embark on a particularly daunting period of fixtures, with meetings against Liverpool, Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester City all on the horizon. — The Mirror.