Man Utd waiting on Varane medical, Henderson still recovering from coronavirus

Raphael Varane is expected to formally complete his transfer to Manchester United in the coming days as he waits to undergo a medical.

United reached an agreement to sign the centre-back from Real Madrid last month, with the deal reportedly worth £42.7million (€50m).

Varane, who was in action with France at Euro 2020, said farewell to his former Madrid team-mates at the end of July, but could not complete a medical until he had isolated upon his arrival in the United Kingdom, due to current COVID-19 travel restrictions.

With both Varane and fellow new arrival Jadon Sancho absent, United still cruised to a 4-0 rout of Everton in their final pre-season friendly before kicking off their Premier League campaign against Leeds United next week.

And Ole Gunnar Solskjaer confirmed Varane’s deal will be finalised as soon as the 28-year-old has completed his period in quarantine.

“With Raphael, the medical has to be done. He’s isolating at the moment,” Solskjaer told reporters after the win over Everton.

“He had to wait for visas, so unfortunately that took a few more days than expected but we’ve got to follow the protocols and the rules.”

Solskjaer also revealed Sancho, who has been given an extended break after helping England to the Euro 2020 final, will report for training on Monday, so could be in contention to face Leeds.

“Jadon is in on Monday, hopefully in decent nick and he can be involved,” Solskjaer added.

Bruno

— Jadon Sancho (@Sanchooo10) August 7, 2021

Mason Greenwood, Harry Maguire, Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot were on target against Everton.

United’s preparations for the game were hindered somewhat by a coronavirus outbreak within the squad, leading to the cancellation of a planned friendly against Preston North End last week.

Jesse Lingard has tested positive and is a doubt to face Leeds, while United are taking a cautious approach with Dean Henderson.

The goalkeeper has missed the entirety of United’s pre-season after testing positive for COVID-19 following his return to training and though he no longer has the illness, Henderson is still suffering from the after-effects.

“Jesse feels okay, hopefully it’ll stay that way,” Solskjaer said. “But when you get a positive test you’ve just got to isolate even if you feel well.

“Dean was positive early on. He’s negative in his testing but he has not felt as energised and sharp as he normally has done, so he still feels fatigued and is feeling the after-effects.

“You never know. You’ve seen so many effects of this virus, he’s still got a few days to rest and then we’ll check up on him.”