Raphael Varane will miss Arsenal’s trip to Old Trafford at the start of December after the defender picked up a hamstring strain against Atalanta midweek.

Raphael Varane is facing a month on the sidelines after pinging his hamstring in Manchester United’s Champions League group game in Italy on Tuesday.

The former Real Madrid man was replaced by Mason Greenwood after only 38 minutes in what was just his second game back after another injury.

Arsenal travel to Old Trafford for a Premier League game on 2 December and the influential defender is expected to miss out which can only be said to be a bonus for Arsenal.

Varane will miss games against Manchester City, Watford, Villarreal and Chelsea, as well as the Arsenal match, which is quite the blow to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

United conceded 11 goals in just three games when Varane was sidelined recently with a groin problem.

Injury problems have been a recurring theme for Varane throughout his career.

The 28-year-old has suffered three knee problems, including a rupture of the outer meniscus, three muscle tears, four problems just listed as ‘muscular’, two vague leg injuries, three knocks, a hamstring problem, and a calf issue.

If that’s not enough, he’s also missed out on games because of the ‘flu and Covid.

Remarkably, all those injuries and illnesses have only kept him out of 70 games across eight seasons, although the timing of his meniscus rupture, and other injuries, coming at the end of a season, keeps that tally down significantly.

For instance, he missed just 12 games with that meniscus problem, despite being injured for five months. Similarly, a ‘torn muscle bundle’ kept him out for two months but he only missed one game as the injury happened in May.

Even this current injury will benefit from the international break after this weekend’s round of fixtures, keeping the number of games missed for United lower than it could otherwise be.