I'm not crying, you are 😭😭.
This morning, former French defender Rapha Varane hung up his boots as the centre-back calls time on his career.
The former Lens, Real Madrid and Man Utd player retires at the early age of just 31 as injuries have hampered what could've been an even more incredible career, which would've been hard to do considering all that he's won.
Varane left MUFC for free after his contract expired and moved to Serie A side Como in the summer, a team coached by former rival of Varane's and ex-Barcelona midfielder Cesc Fabregas.
However, things went terribly wrong as not long after starting his first game, the Frenchman broke down with a knee injury just 20 minutes into his debut in a Coppa Italia match.
Those turned out to be his last minutes on a football field.
And this ultimately is what has caused him to say goodbye to the game so early: injuries.
During his illustrious career, Varane picked up a total of 27 injuries for club and country across 12 seasons in football. Things only seemed to get worse after he joined United as out of those 27, 11 came at Old Trafford. He had 5 separate issues in his first season (21/22) alone! That was his most in one season in his entire career.
Varane played a total of 95 games for MUFC scoring 2 goals and getting 1 assist. More than that though, he was a leader in the dressing room, a man who demanded respect for all that he did in the game. He was someone the rest could look up to and a player that others would listen to when he spoke.
Despite his injuries, having a player with all those other attributes are super valuable especially for a side that is young and up-and-coming like ours, and one that doesn't have that winning feeling.
Another thing everyone spoke highly of him was his professionalism and dedication to his craft, two attributes that you don't find in a lot of players today.
What a defender. I was so excited when we signed him even if it came a decade later than we would've liked.
But what a three years it was and career overall. His last full match was to play a brilliant game and win the FA Cup with United over those fools across town.
I’m really sad that his career has ended at just 31. Unfortunately injuries have caused a premature end to what has been an amazing time in football.
What a player. What a legend. Merci Raphael Varane 🙌.
Career record:
🏟️ 573 games
🏆x4 Champions League
🏆x3 La Liga
🏆x1 Copa del Rey
🏆x3 Supercopa
🏆x2 Super Cup
🏆x4 Club World Cup
🏆x1 Carabao Cup
🏆x1 FA Cup
🏆x1 Nations League
🏆x1 World Cup
21 trophies in total. The man completed the game. One of the greatest defenders of our generation.
Background Image: Raphael Varane retires from football | Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images via Eurosport