Manchester United star Raphaël Varane has revealed he has unfortunately been suffering from concussion problems for the last decade in a fresh effort to improve protocols around head injuries in world football.
The often-injured Man United and now internationally retired French defender was speaking to sports outlet L’Équipe in an exclusive interview when he detailed that not only has he had to pull out games due to concussion concerns but has played through matches even with head injury symptoms.
Citing instances such as a 2019/20 match for Real Madrid against Man City and fixtures as far back as 2014 when France came up against Brazil in the round of 16, he described his performances as being on “autopilot” and that he was unsure he would have even been able to respond if someone spoke to him.
As for similar experiences since joining United, he described a game earlier this season where he headed the ball multiple times and was feeling “abnormally tired in the following days, as well as having some eye fatigue” before being deemed unfit to play the next match.
🎙️ | Raphaël Varane on concussion protocal in football:
“I know that, personally, I won’t live until 100; I know that I have damaged my body and put myself in danger. By speaking about it, situations can perhaps be better analysed and take decisions based on risks.”
The 30-year-old serial winner explained that although steps have been taken to protect his health down the years, the protocols surrounding potential concussions and injury culture, in general, aren’t quite where they need to be.
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“As footballers playing at the highest level, we are used to pain, we are a bit like soldiers, tough guys, symbols of physical strength, but these symptoms are almost invisible”, says Varane.
“If your leg hurts and you limp, everyone sees it. But with head injuries, it immediately feels weak to say that you are tired, that you have migraines or eye fatigue… So at first, we tell ourselves that it will pass.”
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Varane left the French national team in 2023 to look after his overall fitness and also said he has already advised his seven-year-old son not to head the ball when playing, reiterating that “even if it does not cause immediate trauma, we know that in the long term, repeated shocks are likely to have harmful effects.”
The seasoned centre-back went on to confess that it was only this season that he heard about “The first time I heard about micro-concussions after specialists came in to talk to the United squad about it, adding that most players “don’t understand and we don’t even think about doing a test”.
It was only in December 2022 that football fans were left fuming with the Football Association (FA) themselves for mocking a potentially serious head injury during a cup tie and while things have improved in recent years, it’s clear that there’s still a lot of preventive rework still to be done.
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Fellow footballing legend Alan Shearer has been at the forefront of trying to improve awareness around concussions in football and the links to conditions like CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) as Varane is by no means the first and sadly won’t be the last.
New Amazon Prime Video docuseries to show Pep Guardiola’s final seasons at Manchester City
Emily Sergeant
A new all-access docuseries featuring Pep Guardiola’s final few seasons at Manchester City is set to air this summer.
Coming exclusively to Prime Video in the UK and Ireland, the four-part documentary is set to take Manchester City fans and neutral viewers alike inside the club as the players and manager – who delivered an era of dominance -make way for a new generation.
Filmed over the past two seasons, this is the ultimate account of an emotional farewell that marks the end of an era in English football, and will offer unfiltered access to Guardiola, his squad, and the City boardroom.
After 10 trophy-filled years – which included six Premier League titles, the UEFA Champions League, three FA Cups, and five EFL Cups – Pep Guardiola called time on his tenure in Manchester last month, alongside fan favourite players Bernardo Silva and John Stones, as well as Kevin De Bruyne the season prior.
This new docuseries was there to follow them every step of the process.
Fans can follow City from a disappointing 2024/25 campaign right through to a domestic double the following season, charting the raw emotion of a squad in transition.
The series is directed by Academy and BAFTA award-winning filmmaker, Kevin Macdonald, alongside City Studios’ John De Caux, and is produced by Kevin Macdonald for Plan B/KM Films and Gavin Johnson and Ged Doherty for City Studios.
“This is the ultimate account of an emotional farewell that marks the end of an era in English football,” Amazon Prime Video said in a statement.
Joining Prime Video’s wide selection of sports programming, the series will be available to watch at no additional cost to Prime members this summer.
It’ll be ready to stream on 19 August.
Featured Image – Prime Video
Sport
Here’s our petition for ‘Wonderwall’ to become England’s new football anthem
Danny Jones
All things considered, England have made a great start to the 2026 World Cup, pitching themselves as one of the great entertainers this tournament, and the scenes of the supporters and players alike serenading an entire stadium with ‘Wonderwall’ after the full-time whistle gave us chills.
So why not time for a change?
After all, that feels a lot like what this World Cup squad is about: a new manager, new teammates, not clinging to the previous ways of playing – and perhaps it’s time to put ‘Sweet Caroline’ to one side.
Now, we’re by no means saying that we’re ‘done’ with the John Denver anthem that has been reborn as a Three Lions anthem, but look at how good it was watching England belting out Oasis with the fans.
“Today is gonna be the day that England beat Croatia 4-2”, as BBC’s Match of the Day cleverly quipped.
Obviously, we’re biased as Mancs, but we also think there’s something special about having that particular track feel so good to hear again.
As much as we love Oasis, for a long time, it felt like we couldn’t enjoy arguably their biggest-ever single anywhere near as much as we once did.
We assume it’s something akin to hearing ‘Mr Brightside’ non-stop for what felt like millennia, and in truth, hearing those repetitions of “ba, ba, ba… SO GOOD, SO GOOD!” over and over again at sporting fixtures beyond just national team games has taken the magic out of it at times.
Perhaps it’s just a case of saturation in certain settings and songs simply being overplayed – FIFA’s co-hosts over in the US certainly helped see to that when it came to ‘Wonderwall’ for a long time.
On the other hand, it feels like we’ve now come full circle; singing those famous lyrics at the top of our lungs in a sea of Mancs and fans travelling from all over to Heaton Park for Live ’25 last year felt better than ever, and like we’d all remembered how great a tune it’s always been. So did this…
In fact, this felt so emotional that you’ve got people who aren’t even English praising both those on the pitch and up in the stands for the moment online.
Even the admittedly rather American Man vs Food himself, Adam Richman (though he does have British ancestry), felt compelled to write a moving response on social media: “Shut up. You’re the one that’s crying. Bravo, England.”
He’s far from the only one who was left bowled over by the atmosphere – us included.
What do you think? Is it time for a new go-to tournament anthem for the Three Lions moving forward?
Danny Jones -
2nd April 2024 
