Manchester United defender Raphael Varane has claimed the UNFP Citizen Player Award as a reward for his charitable contributions and philanthropic efforts back home.
Madein Foot reports that Varane was handed the prize at Pavillon Gabriel in Paris, France.
Varane won it due to his selfless acts of offering free football courses to young children in the North and in Martinique.
RAPHAËL VARANE OBTIENT LE PRIX DE JOUEUR CITOYEN
Le joueur est fondateur de stages de football gratuit pour les jeunes 🏆#TropheesUNFP pic.twitter.com/J0A6SbnaLT— Scoop Ligue 1 (@ScoopLigue1) May 13, 2024
Last year, the accolade was won by Zimbabwe international Marshall Munetsi, who earned praise and admiration for making a huge difference in his home country.
It’s believed that Munetsi donates around 20% of his monthly football earnings to his foundation, which targets underprivileged children by paying school fees for them, and supplying stationery, food hampers and football kits.
Varane is currently injured and not available to Erik ten Hag for selection in United’s games.
The 31-year-old is out with a muscle injury that he picked up in the 4-3 loss at the hands of Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last month.
The issue has caused him to miss United’s last five Premier League games and the four-time Champions League winner is facing a race against time to feature again this term.
There is an expectation that Varane will depart Old Trafford once the campaign concludes, with Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS eager to get his massive wages off the club’s books.
Journalist Dharmesh Sheth gave an update on the Frenchman’s future and said, “There are going to be players that are going to leave because they’re at the end of their contract. We’ve mentioned these before, we’ve mentioned Raphael Varane, we’ve mentioned Anthony Martial, they are very likely to leave the football club.”
“Then you’ve got players who are going to have one year left on their contract, then you’re going to have players who are slightly older that are on longer-term contracts, who, United will think, this is not the way we want to start this new era.”
Sheth further stated, “So you could see a situation where there could be five, six, seven players leaving the club and five, six, seven players coming into Manchester United.”
United return to action on Wednesday when they host Eddie Howe’s Newcastle at home.
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