Erik ten Hag's Man Utd muddle! Raphael Varane's impressive return hammers home Dutchman's dreadful decision-making

Despite his fine form for France during last year's run to the World Cup final, Varane announced his retirement from international football in February because he felt he had reached breaking point.

"The very highest level is like a washing machine, you play all the time and you never stop," he explained. "Right now, I feel like I’m suffocating and that the player is gobbling up the man."

Consequently, he felt compelled to ease the mental and physical strain placed upon him by an increasingly congested schedule by reducing his playing time.

As it transpired, he need not have bothered. Varane has been afforded plenty of time for rest and recuperation this season - albeit not by choice.

Varane began the campaign as United's first-choice centre-back, which was hardly surprising given the role he had played in the club finishing third last season.

There was even talk of him succeeding Maguire as captain, with his fellow centre-back seemingly destined to leave Old Trafford during the summer.

However, after missing three games through injury in September - all of which United lost, conceding 10 times in the process - Varane was shockingly relegated to the role of substitute.

Although he continued to feature in the Champions League, the Frenchman saw just 18 minutes of game time in the Premier League between October and the middle of December.

There were widespread reports of a rift between the player and his manager, rumours that Varane's bizarre demotion was one of the reasons why the United dressing room had allegedly begun to lose faith in Ten Hag.

The Dutchman insisted there had been no falling-out, though, succinctly stating ahead of the Premier League clash with Manchester City in October that it was simply a question of "tactics".

It was claimed that Ten Hag didn't feel Varane was proficient enough passing the ball with his left foot to play on the left-hand side of defence, and that both Victor Lindelof and Evans were deemed better replacements for the injured Lisandro Martinez (even though neither favours their left foot), given Luke Shaw was sidelined for a significant spell too.

Varane, then, was essentially left competing for a starting spot with Maguire on the right side and Ten Hag explained: "When you have to decide between two players who are brilliant - Varane and Maguire - then you have to make a choice."

Ten Hag went with Maguire, who has been enjoying something resembling a return to form, as underlined by his November Player of the Month win (a sympathy vote if ever there was one), but the error-prone Englishman has never been in Varane's class, and never will be.

The fact that he was being picked ahead of the World Cup winner was astounding - and made to look utterly ridiculous at Anfield on Sunday.

Amid links with Bayern Munich and Saudi Pro League clubs, Varane was suddenly brought in from the cold for last week's must-win Champions League meeting with Bayern Munich and impressed as United fought valiantly to keep the Bavarians at bay, making more clearances and winning more duels than any of his team-mates.

Tellingly, Varane, with his 93.3 percent pass completion rate was also far better with the ball at his feet than Evans (75.9%), who had replaced the injured Maguire shortly before half-time.

With Maguire unavailable for the subsequent trip to Liverpool, Varane retained his place in the starting line-up, meaning a first Premier League start since September.

United's display may have divided the critics - their perceived lack of ambition was certainly the source of an enormous frustration for Liverpool - but everyone who watched a dreadfully dull encounter agreed on one thing: Varane was integral to United's best defensive display of the season so far.

Ten Hag was reluctant to dwell on Varane's performance in his post-match press conference, saying only that "we know what he is capable of and he has many such performances. I think he did very well, as the whole team did, [and] in the partnership with Jonny Evans, they were both leading the team from the back."

However, in justifying Varane's recall ahead of the Bayern game, the manager told BT Sport: "You see his quality. Especially against Bayern, we need to defend very strongly and as we all know, he's a very strong defender."

Which obviously begs the question, why on earth has an under-fire coach who has been dealing with an injury crisis sometimes decided that there is no room for such a "strong defender" in his squad - let alone his starting line-up? It makes zero sense.

Truth be told, though, Ten Hag's treatment of Varane is unsurprising, because it is entirely in keeping with his muddled approach to team selection this season.

Lest anyone forget, he wanted to sell both Maguire and Scott McTominay during the summer - and yet both have now become staples in his starting line-up.

It smacks of desperation and a total loss of conviction, a manager chopping and changing his team in the faint hope of stumbling upon a winning formula.

An unassuming champion like Varane, who is revered among his team-mates for his winning mentality and silent leadership skills, deserves far better. If there's any chance of going back to the Bernabeu, he simply has to take it.