Ex-Man Utd, Real Madrid man Varane to retire after just one appearance for Como

After an illustrious 14-year career, winning 22 major trophies across three different clubs, Raphael Varane has hung his boots up in what comes as a bit of shock having played just once for his new club, Como.

Rumours surfaced late on Tuesday night with Varane set to imminently retire after suffering with a serious knee injury which saw him substituted just 20 minutes into his Como debut.

The former Lille, Real Madrid and Manchester United centre-back announced his retirement on Instagram on Wednesday morning.

Varane was left out of Cesc Fabregas’ Serie A squad with the Frenchman expected to miss a large portion of the season.

At just 31 years of age, Varane would have so much yet to still offer to football, though it seems as though he can no longer deal with such injury worries, having missed over 40 games with a number of different injuries while at Manchester United.

In his time at Old Trafford, he played 95 times for the club, winning the Carabao Cup and FA Cup, forming a strong partnership with Lisandro Martinez when both were fit and available for Erik ten Hag.

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Sadly, Varane’s best football have been behind him for a number of years which was partially the reason why Real Madrid allowed him to leave in August 2021.

Varane decided to retire from international football in 2022 to focus on his club career, calling it quits on the national team after the World Cup in Qatar where France came runners-up.

Under Didier Deschamps, Varane also won the World Cup in 2018 in Russia in a tournament which saw an 18-year-old Kylian Mbappe come to life.

Varane’s move to Como almost signified his career coming to an end, with the Italian club home to a number of players who have enjoyed a long career at the top, with the likes of former Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina and Barcelona’s Sergi Roberto both joining the club.

Como won promotion to Italy’s big league last season, ending a 21-year wait of top-flight football, a spell that saw them pummel down to Serie D in 2018.

After being part of a series of Real Madrid sides, winning the Champions League on four separate occasions, it’s quiet fitting that Varane’s final 90 minutes was to shut out Erling Haaland and lift the FA Cup, ending his United career with silverware.

Even last season, Varane missed a large number of games in a time where the amount of matches being played has been heavily spoken about by players in the last week or so.

Manchester City’s Rodri had spoken about player’s potentially going on strike with 70-games a season expected for club’s who were to enter the final stages of the European competitions.