Rafael Varane surprises France by retiring from international football at the age of 29

Man­ches­ter Unit­ed defend­er and World Cup win­ner Rafael Varane has report­ed­ly shocked France when he retired from inter­na­tion­al foot­ball at the age of 29.

Varane made 93 appear­ances in an inter­na­tion­al career that spanned near­ly a decade.

How­ev­er, accord­ing to Le Parisien news­pa­per, the defend­er does not want to reach 100 caps and will retire from inter­na­tion­al football.

Varane played in the World Cup in Qatar last Novem­ber and Decem­ber, help­ing his home coun­try reach the final for the sec­ond con­sec­u­tive time.

How­ev­er, France lost on penal­ties to Argenti­na after a thrilling 3–3 draw.

Varane wants to spend more time with his fam­i­ly and lim­it the chance of a major injury lat­er in his career.

Varane has missed 90 games so far with a torn meniscus.

The Man­ches­ter Unit­ed ace also knows it’s time to take on the next gen­er­a­tion of French defenders.

Jules Coudet, Day­ot Upame­cano, Ibrahi­ma Konate, William Sal­i­ba, Wes­ley Fofana and Benoît Badi­asile will all go on to illus­tri­ous careers.

Varane has made the deci­sion despite next year’s UEFA EURO 2024 being the only major com­pe­ti­tion he has yet to win.

“Rep­re­sent­ing this great coun­try for 10 years has been one of the great­est hon­ors of my life,” he said in a state­ment along­side a pic­ture of him­self hold­ing the World Cup trophy.

Every time I wear this spe­cial blue jer­sey, I feel a great sense of pride.

“It’s an oblig­a­tion to give your best, play with all your heart and win every time you step on the pitch.

“After a few months of think­ing, I have decid­ed that it is the right time to retire from inter­na­tion­al football.

When I was a child, I remem­ber chas­ing after a team called France 98 and the play­ers who gave me an inde­scrib­able impression.

I had a dream of “becom­ing like a hero”, and 20 years lat­er, I had the best expe­ri­ence of my life, an expe­ri­ence that I am tru­ly proud of.

I was able to take home a cup I will nev­er for­get. July 15, 2018, I still feel all the emo­tions I felt that day.

“It was the best and most mem­o­rable moment of my life.”

“Even after los­ing last year’s finals, you cer­tain­ly did a great run and wel­comed us back like heroes. To each and every one of you, 1000 THANK YOU!”

The for­mer Real Madrid for­ward made his debut for Les Bleus in March 2013, start­ing 3–1 against Georgia.

Varane was part of the 2018 World Cup win­ning side, help­ing France redeem them­selves after an injury-hit Euro 2016 home defeat.

In Rus­sia, he played every match with­out miss­ing a sin­gle minute.

France beat Croa­t­ia 4–2 in the final to claim their sec­ond World Cup title.