Manchester United defender Raphael Varane has suffered another in-and-out season at Old Trafford after struggling for fitness throughout the campaign.
Additionally, the former Real Madrid man has recently spoken on the damage his body has suffered through repeatedly heading the football.
In a candid interview, Varane admitted the continuous use of his head when competing for the ball has taken its toll on his physical health.
As reported by The Mirror, the centre-back has been praised for “raising awareness” on the situation with the Professional Football Association calling for an immediate rule change to avoid further health implications.
Currently, players are being told to do a “maximum of ten higher force headers” in training each week in a bid to reduce the opportunity for brain injury within the game.
The PFA are calling for temporary substitutions to be introduced, rather than the current system that they say “does not offer sufficient protection for players”.
They believe that temp subs will allow time for all relevant and proper checks to be carried out on players without the pressures of returning to the field which could lead to misdiagnosis.
Dr Adam White leads the Brain Health team that works with the PFA to offer support to former and current players and has applauded Varane for speaking out.
“Prominent players like Raphael Varane raising awareness about the risks of heading and head injuries is significant and influential. Players, management staff and medical teams have a collective responsibility to work together to ensure players’ long-term welfare and health are well understood and prioritised,” he said.
White also confirmed the conversations he and his team are having with the powers that be to hopefully introduce the rule change.
“We are also working with football stakeholders on enhanced player protections, which includes areas such as the introduction of temporary concussion substitutions, reduced heading frequency in training, and rest periods between heading sessions.
As their union, the safety and wellbeing of players will always be our number one priority,” he stated.
Varane is facing a race against time to be fit for United’s crucial upcoming games against Chelsea and Liverpool respectively and will be hoping for an injury-free end to what has been a difficult campaign for him and the team.
Want to be the first to hear breaking Man United news? For carefully selected, crucial updates, join our WhatsApp channel: https://bit.ly/United-Breaking-News.
