'The journey requires strength' - Man United defender Raphael Varane sends message to teammates

Manchester United defender Raphael Varane has discussed the need for professional footballers to have resilience and the importance of controlling their egos.

Varane has fallen out of favour with Erik ten Hag this season and Jonny Evans has played over him with the manager citing 'tactical reasons', but he the Frenchman has recently returned to the starting XI. He started against Liverpool at Anfield last weekend and won praise for his impressive performance.

He also started against Bayern Munich in the Champions League. Before those appearances, Varane had started in only one of the previous 13 games and he was concerned about the possibility of being forced out of the club.

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Varane wants to stay at United and he's hopeful of receiving a contract extension, which makes the timing of his LinkedIn post about having resilience and the importance of sacrifice interesting. The player does not post on LinkedIn often but wrote: "The journey to the top is something that requires a significant amount of strength. There are so many factors that go into becoming a professional player, and even more to have a successful career.

"In Europe, less than 1% of players who begin in academies as children will make it to professional level. The numbers are even smaller when you narrow it down to the amount that play for their countries and in the Champions League.

"According to FIFA, there are an estimated 130,00 professional players worldwide with 211 FIFA registered national teams. Based on this, approximately 5275 (4.06%) players play for their country.

"With 32 Champions League registered teams, approximately 800 (0.64%) play in