Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville believes a player such as Virgil van Dijk would help transform the squad at Old Trafford with Raphael Varane unable to have the same impact

Gary Neville believes that Raphael Varane is not able to exert the same influence on Manchester United as Virgil van Dijk does on Liverpool.

The former United defender selected the Reds’ star as the player he would take from Jurgen Klopp to most improve Erik ten Hag’s side.

Neville suggested that the Dutch international would improve the players around him, something he does not think Varane is capable of in United’s backline.

Gary Neville believes Raphael Varane is unable to have the same impact as Virgil van Dijk (Image: The Overlap)

The 30-year-old arrived at Old Trafford in 2021 in a deal worth £42million from Real Madrid. The Frenchman won four Champions League trophies and three La Liga titles in 10 years with Los Blancos but has endured a more tumultuous time with the Red Devils.

Varane has made 92 appearances for Man United but has seen injuries interrupt his progress with the club. Regardless, Neville had plenty of praise for the World Cup winner but simply does not reckon his talents include managing his teammates.

“I would take Van Dijk,” said the Overlap pundit. “I don’t think he’ll [Varane] ever be that player.

“For me, when I watch Varane, he actually defends his part of the pitch very well and the box very well – he heads out a lot of balls and is quite dominant in the air. I just think he’s that kind of centre half who will always do – and to be fair he might have been at Real Madrid when he was alongside [Sergio] Ramos – his own job really well but I don’t think he’ll impact the players around him.

“And that’s not a criticism by the way, because to be fair there are many great centre halves who do their own job very well but don’t actually manage a back four. A great centre half who can manage a back four is your Van Dijks, your [John] Terrys – great players of all time – but he’s just one of those great centre halves that does his own job really well, I think.”

Neville went on to explain the presence that Van Dijk would bring would supersede any impact that Mo Salah could offer. The ex-England international suggested that the gap was closer between United’s forwards and the Egyptian, while Van Dijk would transform the culture at Manchester United.

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Virgil van Dijk of Liverpool celebrates scoring his team’s goal
He said: “I just think that Van Dijk would bring dominance to the team and a presence in the team that we haven’t got. We haven’t got a forward as good as Mo Salah, but we’ve got talented forwards.

“I always think if you’ve got a spine of strength and presence… We always say, don’t we, ‘Oh, there’s no Roy Keanes anymore, there’s no Vincent Kompanys anymore, there’s no John Terrys’ – there actually is one now at Liverpool, when you think about how he’s performed this season, Van Dijk. He’s a massive presence on that pitch.

“He’s not the same character as some of those that I’ve mentioned, but he actually is quite dominant on the pitch, he speaks a lot more than people might think and he actually is someone you can see that’s got an aura about him.

“And I think that if you want to change Manchester United ’s complete and utter culture, then they need that dominant person who holds them together. And I think Van Dijk would control [Kobbie] Mainoo, even someone like Antony or [Marcus] Rashford. I think he would build them, not break them.”