1 Real Madrid Player Whose FIFA 2016 Stats Underestimate Him

Jose Mourinho has labelled him "the best young central defender in the world." Didier Deschamps believes "he has everything." Zinedine Zidane has described him as Real Madrid's "future." Carlo Ancelotti has said the same. 

Evidently, Raphael Varane has some very notable admirers. And for good reason. 

Since signing for Real Madrid from Lens in 2011, the Frenchman has rapidly become the hottest defensive talent in Europe, shining for both club and country on elite stages such as the Champions League and World Cup. 

In 2014, he became France's youngest ever captain at just 21 years of age, and in 2015, he appears to have moved ahead of Pepe in Real Madrid's pecking order and cemented a first-team place at the Bernabeu under new manager Rafa Benitez. 

In the transfer market, his value could be, well, almost anything. However, there's one domain where Varane seems to be undervalued: the gaming one, in FIFA 16. 

Key Attributes

When you spend long periods watching Varane, it's easy to see why his national team coach, Deschamps, believes "he has everything."

Possessing extraordinary pace, remarkable recovery skills, strong aerial ability and impeccable technique, the Frenchman has the raw attributes to become the world's finest at his position over the next five years. Scarily, at just 22, he's probably already in the top 15 in that regard.  

In FIFA 16, though, some of his attribute ratings feel short of the mark. 

Screenshot from futhead.com

Most notably, a pace rating of 79 seriously underestimates the speed of Varane, who, last season, left scorch marks across the turf at the Vicente Calderon while creating a vapour cone with a sprint against Atletico Madrid. 

For comparison, Cristiano Ronaldo's pace rating is 92, and Varane would comfortably beat the Portuguese in a sprint. 

Varane's passing rating of 60 also sells short the quality of his distribution. Throughout his Real Madrid career, the centre-back has consistently hovered around the 90 percent mark in passing accuracy, per WhoScored.com, and at Real Madrid this season, only Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Marcelo among outfield players have completed more accurate long balls than Varane. In total, he's attempted 33 and found the mark on 24 occasions—a success rate of over 70 percent. 

Impact on the System

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Not only is Varane an excellent defender individually, he has a profound impact on those around him because of his unique attributes, as explained previously here at Bleacher Report:

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Because of his transonic speed, all those around him have a greater licence, their margin for error larger and the effect of their mistakes minimised.

Thanks to his recovery abilities, Varane allows the defensive line to play higher. He allows the full-backs to push on. He allows his partner to gamble. He allows the midfield to play flat out. Essentially, he gives his team more options and liberties because his athleticism allows him to cover territory in a way other players can't.

Thus, Varane changes the whole dynamic of a game. Simply through his presence, he positively alters what's possible for his team while concurrently reducing the options available to the opposition.

"

Comparisons

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For overall rating comparisons, let's start with one of his team-mates. With a rating of 84, Pepe is considered a superior defender to Varane (82) by FIFA 16, even though the Portuguese looks to have fallen behind the Frenchman in Real Madrid's pecking order. 

Elsewhere, Barcelona's Jeremy Mathieu, Arsenal's Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker and Paris Saint-Germain's David Luiz (all 83) are all rated higher than Varane, while the likes of Atletico Madrid's Stefan Savic and Liverpool's Mamadou Sakho (both 81) are essentially considered equals. 

Varane is a cut above that crop and in 2015-16, he will play a leading role in the title pushes of one of the world's biggest clubs.