Ten Hag raves about ‘immense’ Raphael Varane and says Victor Lindelof will be in squad next week

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Erik ten Hag has provided an encouraging positive injury update over Victor Lindelof.

The Swede featured on pre-season tour but has not been in any matchday squads to start the campaign.

Now, speaking to United’s official club website, Ten Hag says Lindelof is back from injury and will return to training this Sunday, just too late to be involved not against Southampton later today.

He said: “Victor Lindelof did really well in pre-season so I am happy he will be back on Sunday in the squad, so we will have another option. Internally, we have competition and that’s good and I think top teams need that.”

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‘Varane is immense’

Ten Hag spoke to talk about another centre-back, Raphael Varane, who returned to the side against Liverpool.

He said: “Varane, his stature is immense. In pre-season, we had to build his physicality, so it was a bit of a slower start, and he was fit in the first games but in the first period of the pre-season, he wasn’t always, so we’re happy we built him in that way. 

“You see that when the team needed him, he was really there and his profile, his stature, what he won in the past, shows he can really contribute to this team.”

At present it very much appears as though Varane and new signing Lisandro Martinez are going to have a shot at being Manchester United’s first choice partnership.

However, starting on this week against Leicester City, the midweek matches start, and a run of Thursday and Sunday fixtures, with the Europa League beginning in early September.

This will mean there is a necessity to rotate the squad, which will allow chances for Lindelof and captain Harry Maguire, who was dropped on Monday night against Liverpool.

Competition for places will raise standards, and United have four solid centre-backs who will push each other and provide ample cover if they can all stay fit. Of course, as Ten Hag references with Varane, he has to be managed carefully, after an injury-hit pre-season in addition to his first year at Old Trafford.