Danny Mills tips Raphael Varane to struggle in the Premier League ahead of Manchester United transfer

Raphael Varane is set to join Manchester United (Photo by Alex Caparros – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)

Raphael Varane will struggle with the physicality of the Premier League and will be shocked by the competitiveness of the top division in England when he joins Manchester United.

That’s the view of former Manchester City ace Danny Mills, who believes the Frenchman will take time to settle at Old Trafford.

United have reportedly agreed a £39m fee for the World Cup winner, with Varane expected to travel to England in the next 48 hours to undergo his medical at Carrington.

The move has been widely heralded as United can now partner Harry Maguire with a rapid, experienced centre-back partner.

But, while Mills acknowledges Varane’s experience, he believes the Frenchman could struggle with the ‘robustness’ of life in the Premier League.

Varane returned to Real Madrid training last week. (Photo by Antonio Villalba/Real Madrid via Getty Images)

‘We know his pedigree. We know he’s an exceptional talent,’ Mills told TalkSPORT.

‘Obviously often partnered in recent years alongside Sergio Ramos. It will take him a little bit of time to adapt certainly to Manchester, to Manchester weather. But more importantly the Premier League.

‘We know he’s won everything but he’s had one or two injury problems and he hasn’t played every single game, every single season – he’s had those injury issues in the last few years. I think it might take him a little bit of time to adjust to the robustness of the Premier League.

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‘We know in Spain you probably get half a dozen of really tough games in the league if you take away the Champions League but in the Premier League it’s every single week. When you talk to all the foreign players that come over they always talk about the intensity of the Premier League – playing the teams at the bottom you have to fight tooth and nail for 90 minutes every single week – there’s no easy games and that will take some getting used to for him.

‘The Premier League is so different to the Spanish league that’s what we have to look at it. This is not a player that will pick the ball up and run at people, an attacking player that will score goals. We’ve seen how it’s difficult sometimes for defenders to get to grips with the physicality of it and the intensity of the games i’m sure there’s a lot of games in La Liga where he’s been able to coast through at times on 70, 75% where they’ve dominated possession and not come under too much pressure.

‘That does not happen in the Premier League – you have to get used to do that very quickly. Ge’s got a really good partner alongside him in Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw has been exceptional and then Aaron Wan-Bissaka or Trippier in at right back.

‘It’s a positive signing but it’s not one that i’m 100% that he will come in and be absolutely brilliant like we’ve seen with Virgil van Dijk or even Ruben Diaz, who came in and was a bit of an unknown, a doubt.’

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