Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes has expressed concern over the form of Frenchman Raphael Varane adding that the legs of the United defender look sluggish and that he may be ‘finished’ at the top level.

The 30-year-old has already missed a month of this campaign through injury and was faulted for being too slow to close down Mauro Icardi before the Galatasary striker chipped Andre Onana for the winner.

Varane joined United from Real Madrid in 2021 for a fee of around £35million, and he arrived as one of the most decorated players in world football.

‘I worry about Varane a bit, he has been one of the very best defenders around, in that same ilk at Real Madrid,’ Scholes said to TNT Sports.

‘I just think his legs are looking sluggish, he can’t keep fit and I worry about him

‘Really disappointed. I actually don’t think they played that badly. All the talk before the game was that they couldn’t really score goals and there was a a lack of goals in the team. 

‘It is almost as if we disregarded the defensive side of the game and the defensive side of the team it wasn’t good enough they were wide open at times.’

Initially, Paul Scholes had not held back on what he termed as a soft and weak Manchester United backline after Erik ten Hag’s men fell the second successive defeat in the Champions League.

‘United really had to win this, your first home Champions League game. This is a terrible result,’ he said on TNT Sports.

‘[Sofyan] Amrabat, look he’s not a left-back but he gets done for the goal. It was so wide open.

‘I’m not sure where [Raphael] Varane is going. [Victor] Lindelof is lost in the middle of the pitch. So soft and weak. They were so open in that central defensive area, they gave chances away.’

The Red Devils are getting ready to welcome Brentford to try to bounce back after two successive home defeats against Crystal Palace and the 3-2 loss to Galatasaray in midweek.