VAR referee for Man Utd vs Wolves dropped last season for costly blunder, you can't write it

The VAR referee for Manchester United's victory over Wolves was dropped last season for a costly error.

United claimed an 1-0 victory over Wolves in a game overshadowed by a controversial VAR decision at the death.

Indeed, Raphael Varane scored the only goal of the game as United edged past the Molineux club to claim a crucial three points in their Premier League opener.

Erik ten Hag had stressed the need for his side to "raise the bar" before kick-off but it was a tepid display from United in front of the Old Trafford faithful. Indeed, it took a good pass from Bruno Fernandes to cut through the Wolves defence and allow Aaron Wan-Bissaka to cross to Varane.

And in injury time, debutant keeper Andre Onana flew out of his goal and wiped out Wolves’ Sasa Kalajdzic in the box while failing to claim the ball.

Wolves manager Gary O'Neil was booked for his complaints but the VAR official, Michael Salisbury, chose to play on rather than call referee Simon Hooper to the monitor, to the dismay of pundits and fans alike.

It is not the first time Salisbury has been at the centre of a controversial decision, however.

Last season, back in April, the PGMOL dropped Salisbury from refereeing duties for a weekend of Premier League fixtures after an error in Brighton’s 2-1 defeat to Tottenham.

Salisbury was the VAR official when Stuart Attwell missed a trip on Kaoru Mitoma in the box with the score at 1-1.

However, Salisbury failed to overturn Attwell’s on-field decision, leading to the PGMOL being forced to subsequently apologise and admit a mistake had been made.

And Salisbury's decision in United's victory over Wolves astounded the latter's boss O'Neil, who claimed Onana "nearly took our forward's head off".

Speaking to Sky Sports he said: "I thought live it was a penalty. It looked like the keeper nearly took our forward's head off. I think it is a foul, you go for the ball and clatter the player that hard, it is a penalty.

"I thought he was going over to the screen at first but unfortunately he booked me and not Onana.

"I understand the rules [of sticking with the on field decisions as much as possible], but I don't fully accept it.

"I have spoken to the officials about it already. It is a difficult decision for the on-field official, we can't just leave it. If we are all saying it then he need to have a look.

"In the end we can't just focus on that decision. To come to Old Trafford and have the most shots of any side since 2005 and dominate after just four days of work is exceptional. The lads deserved more tonight."