Raphael Varane has been rested by Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick for the visit of Burnley following his return from a hamstring injury.
Varane returned to the starting line-up at Newcastle on Monday night in what was his first appearance since November 2 and struggled in the 1-1 draw.
The France international was culpable for Allan Saint-Maximin's seventh-minute goal and the Manchester Evening News understands Rangnick has decided to ease Varane back into the side rather than start him again three days later.
Varane resumed full training three weeks ago but United went 16 days without playing because of the Covid-19 outbreak in their first-team squad, which forced the postponement of their matches against Brentford and Brighton.
Eric Bailly was due to be unavailable for the Burnley match due to his imminent participation in the Africa Cup of Nations with the Ivory Coast, but was recalled by Rangnick in order to play against Burnley.
Fellow centre-back Victor Lindelof is still unavailable as he continues his isolation after contracting Covid-19.. Phil Jones has been a regular in recent matchday squads but has not played since January 26 2020.
Rangnick defended Varane's performance at St James' Park. "Raphael has not played for the last five or six weeks. Even before the Tottenham game he was injured, so in the last three months he hasn’t played that many games.
"Yes, he made a mistake before the first goal we conceded but apart from that I think he was okay. I wouldn’t say he was outstanding, the same with Harry, but he did okay.
"Our problem was that we allowed too many transitional moments. This is not only a problem of the centre-backs, it is a problem of the whole team. It starts up front, the role of the number 10s in that kind of formation.
"I don’t think it makes sense today to speak about the individual performance of players. We need to get better as a team."
