For the past two months, Raphael Varane has been waiting for an opportunity.
Although he was a World Cup and (four-time) Champions League winner, he was unhappy that he had lost his place in the main team at Manchester United this season.
According to people familiar with the matter, Ten Hag did not deliberately close the door on Raphael Varane's re-entry into the starting line-up. After all, Maguire has managed to reclaim his place in the main team this season.
The chance finally came in last week's Champions League group stage game against Bayern Munich. Raphael Varane started alongside Harry Maguire and, despite the defeat for United, the two centre-backs were among the few players in the squad to excel.
In the last round of the league, with Harry Maguire out injured, Raphael Varane returned to the starting line-up and was considered Man of the Match to lead the team to a clean sheet and a complete exit from Anfield.
United's overall defence has been outstanding, working together to fend off onslaught after onslaught, thanks in large part to Raphael Varane, who was the team's fifth centre-back just a few weeks ago.
Varane unexpectedly returned to the starting line-up against Bayern Munich and Ten Hag described United's "defensive performance was outstanding" that night, something that everyone was looking for.
Unlike other team-mates, Varane excels in the basic duty of a defender – defence.
In that game, Raphael Varane made 15 clearances, the highest in the team, more than double the second-place Dalot (six) and the second-highest single-game record in the Premier League this season.
Although Liverpool took 12 corners and crossed 34 times (the second-highest in the league this season), Raphael Varane excelled in the air defence mission, with nine of his 15 clearances coming with headers.
Not only does he dare to fight, but he is also quite good in terms of positional sense and awareness. He jumped and duel with his opponent 4 times, all of which were successfulCompleted 3 interceptions, the most of any player from either team.
Raphael Varane did an excellent job of defending at left centre-back, successfully limiting the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah, who managed to get away from Varane just once in the entire game.
The praise for Varane's defensive performance was not a "passing one". This season, he has a 75 per cent success rate (both aerial and ground) and is ranked No. 1 in the United squad and in the top five of all players in the Premier League, on par with Virgil van Dijk, Ake and Koonsa.
In the Manchester United team, Diogo Dalot (61 per cent) has the second highest success rate in duels (61 per cent), Maguire (60 per cent) and Aaron Wan-Bissaka (59 per cent) in fourth place, with a gap to Raphael Varane and a lower success rate for other defensive team-mates.
Raphael Varane could become a free agent next summer as his contract expires one year earlier unless United trigger a one-year extension clause. According to the Daily Mail, Manchester United are yet to negotiate a contract extension with Raphael Varane.
Raphael Varane's recent performances, both on the bench and on the pitch, have been impressive. Whether Manchester United want to keep him or not will have to be carefully considered.