Ten Hag wants Varane, Casemiro to stay at Man Utd – source،
Erik ten Hag wants to keep Raphaël Varane and Casemiro at Manchester United during the January transfer window, a source has told ESPN.
Both players have been linked with a move away from Old Trafford next month, but Ten Hag are keen to keep the pair, at least until the end of the season.
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Casemiro has missed the last two months with a hamstring injury while Varane has only recently regained his place in the team after a period out.
With no European football in the new year and only the Premier League and FA Cup to play, Ten Hag are set to reduce the size of their squad in January and have already approved Donny van de Beek's loan move to Eintracht Frankfurt.
Jadon Sancho, exiled from the team since September, is also expected to leave but Casemiro and Varane are still considered important players.
A source told ESPN that the situation could change if both men actively pushed to leave, but in that case Ten Hag would ask the club to sign replacements, which would be complicated by the need to remain fair game compliant. -financial play.
Speaking at the December fans' forum, chief operating officer Collette Roache told supporters United would need to be “really disciplined” when it came to signing new players.
“We don't expect it [the January transfer window] be particularly busy,” Roche said.
“There will always be the possibility of doing deals outside the team, particularly in terms of finding opportunities for players who are not playing as much football as they would like.
“We have seen this season that the Financial Fair Play rules have some teeth, so we have to be very careful to remain compliant, and we will do so. That means being really disciplined in future spending, with a balance between inputs and exits.”
United remain open to cut-price deals in January, with intermediaries raising the possibility of Borussia Dortmund's Donyell Malen and Sancho moving in opposite directions.
Malen is set to leave the Bundesliga due to a lack of playing time and Sancho is available for a transfer following his public row with Ten Hag.
A source told ESPN that Malen, 24, is valued at around £25 million ($31.6 million) by Dortmund and that a swap deal involving Sancho could become an option, although negotiations direct have not yet taken place.
