Has the Time Come for Real Madrid to Move on from Raphael Varane?

Real Madrid's UEFA Champions League final saw an extremely familiar XI take to the field in Milan, with the established names under Zinedine Zidane all featuring from kick-off.

While that was just reward for the players who had largely featured in the end-of-season run in La Liga—where Real won 12 games on the spin to close out the season—central defender Raphael Varane was again conspicuous by his absence, having missed even a spot on the bench due to yet another injury.

Varane has long been heralded as the future of Real's defence, yet he endured, rather than enjoyed, the 2015-16 season for the most part, losing his spot in the side, suffering numerous fitness setbacks and now also missing out on a place with France at UEFA Euro 2016.

As the seasons tick past and he fails to continuously make good on his monstrous ability, how much longer can Real wait before they opt to look elsewhere?

Best young defender?

For some time, and by common consent, Varane has been heralded as one of the best young central defenders on the planet.

His reading of the game, pace and passing are all of the highest order, while his physical development since joining Real has seen him become more dominant aerially.

With the likes of Kurt Zouma, Jose Gimenez and perhaps one or two others, he was one of the faces for the game's top young defenders—but the problem is, he's not exactly a youngster any more.

Varane turned 23 in mid-April, no longer youthful by any footballing definition other than those bizarre young-player-of-the-year classifications that nobody agrees with.

In somewhat disappointing—though apt—fashion, Varane marked the occasion by being an unused substitute a day later.

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He has been surpassed by Gimenez for consistency in La Liga. He will face competition from Aymeric Laporte, Samuel Umtiti (both 22) and Kurt Zouma (21) for a place with France's national team.

Varane is an exceptional talent, but he isn't making full use of that ability, and five years after Real Madrid signed him, he could easily be running out of chances to establish himself as his club's present or future.

Turn the clock back a season and the campaign was reversed for Varane. He struggled to command a guaranteed spot in the team ahead of Pepe in the first half of the season, but he soon found form and was arguably playing his best football for a period after the turn of the year—Real's most impressive central defender and deservedly in the first XI.

In the second half of the season, he missed only three of Real's 19 Liga games and played every minute in the UEFA Champions League from the second group-stage match up until his team were knocked out in the semi-finals.

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Varane looked as though he was ready to become the player Real Madrid and France had always envisaged—but it hasn't lasted beyond that four-month run.

Former Real manager Rafael Benitez put the former Lens man in his initial team at the start of 2015-16, but he wasn't anywhere near his best level, which is perhaps not all his fault given the disconnect in midfield at the time.

In any case, another injury meant he was already on the bench by the time Benitez departed and Zidane waltzed in, and despite getting a couple of runs of games in La Liga, Varane wasn't first pick for his compatriot.

Injuries and minutes

The biggest evidence, were any needed, of how Varane had fallen behind Pepe and Sergio Ramos was in the big matches: Having played in five league games in a row as Pepe was rested, Varane was then benched for the last game of the season when Real were still in with a shout of lifting the title.

The first XI was picked with no room for error, and Varane wasn't in it.

In Europe, meanwhile, it was a complete opposite this season for Real's No. 2 compared to last term: After the first leg against AS Roma, Varane played just one minute in the following six Champions League matches, a total possible of 570 minutes.

His season total for all competitions was less than the much-derided Danilo, less than the out-of-favour Isco and less than Pepe, supposedly the third choice and 10 years Varane's senior.

Indeed, Varane's total minutes played for this season was less than he played even in 2012-13, highlighting his lack of ability to stay consistently available for the team.

Pepe

Real Madrid are perpetually trying to improve their team. Big spenders with a big reputation, the emphasis is on remaining the world's biggest club in all senses: economics, fan numbers and trophy hauls.

To do that, they have to continually upgrade offensive-minded players, as they attract the biggest numbers of admirers—but they have been able to do that in recent seasons largely because of having signed Varane at such a young age.

His promise and potential were always there, enough to allow Pepe to remain in place, with Sergio Ramos almost always partnering one or the other.

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Pepe is aggressive, snarling, irritating, committed and sometimes excellent. He ended the 2015-16 season as Real's most in-form defender, but he's not—nor ever was—a top-class operator in the way Ramos has been, or Diego Godin and Gerard Pique are.

Real Madrid's lack of defensive solidity overall, as a unit as well as with a standout, long-term pairing, is reflected in their poor league title return over the last decade.

At some point, Varane was supposed to outgrow his injuries, mature into a consistent, world-class centre-back. He has hinted at doing it before but is still yet to put an entire campaign together, and sooner or later the club's patience will run out. The big-name signings keep coming, and Pepe can't go on forever.

Maybe it won't happen this summer, but Varane might just be facing the biggest year of his career.

Real Madrid need him to reach the levels of greatness he has long hinted at, and perhaps he will become that player, but he has much to prove with physical resilience and consistency, two hallmarks of all top defenders—and two he has been disappointingly lacking in during his half-decade at the Santiago Bernabeu.

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