Thierry Henry has theory why Real Madrid were so keen to sell Raphael Varane and Casemiro to Man Utd

Thierry Henry has shared his theory why Real Madrid were happy to sell Casemiro and Raphael Varane to Manchester United.

United appeared to to pull off a huge coup when they signed centre-back Raphael Varane from Real Madrid for £34 million in 2021.

Casemiro followed in a £70 million move a year later, but neither have managed to hit the heights fans expected they would.

Varane's time at Old Trafford has been blighted by injuries, and is expected to leave the club when his contract expires at the end of the season.

Casemiro has made more of a contribution, although he has missed three months of the current campaign through injury.

Many fans were surprised that Real Madrid decided to let the pair leave at the peak of their powers, but former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry thinks he knows why.

"There’s one thing you have to give them [Real Madrid] a lot of credit for, the ability they have to make sure they build a team with keeping some of the old guard with them to make sure that they can explain to the guys coming, the young guys coming," Henry told CBS Sports.

"If you look at it, if [Kylian] Mbappe goes there, they’re going to have a team that can be dominating Europe and dominating their league for maybe six to seven years because they’ll all be young.

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"The one thing they do ever so well is they know when to get rid of players. I am not talking about the players that are logical to get rid of. I am talking about it was time for [Cristiano] Ronaldo.

"It was time for Casemiro. It was time for [Mesut] Ozil. It was time for Varane, which was more, I think, of a knee issue, if I understand well.

"But if you think about those three – [Luka] Modric, [Toni] Kroos and Casemiro – they sold the youngest one. Why would you sell the youngest one?

"Well, they noticed that those two can help Valverde, Tchouameni, [Eduardo] Camavinga and they do that ever-so-well and you have to give them credit because when you get rid of the players that I mentioned before, they were outstanding players at that time for your team."

Topics: Real Madrid, Manchester United, Casemiro, Raphael Varane, Kylian Mbappe, Cristiano Ronaldo, Premier League, Thierry Henry

Alex Brotherton

Alex Brotherton is a Sports Trends Writer at SPORTbible. He has previously worked with publications including the Manchester Evening News, GOAL and BBC Sport. He is a football fanatic, but also dabbles in tennis and American football. He enjoys running, cooking and watching non-league football.

@alex_brotherton