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Manchester United defender Raphael Varane has criticised the FA publicly ahead of the upcoming season.

Varane criticised the FA for ignoring players' concerns before the start of the new season. The Frenchman is adamant that longer games brought on by more stoppage time will be bad for him and his fellow athletes as the FA are attempting to cut down on time-wasting and increase the time the ball is in play. Matches will far more often reach at least 100 minutes.

At both halftime and the end of the game during the World Cup in Qatar last year, a significant amount of stoppage time was added. The weekend's opening round of EFL games marked the beginning of the English authorities' imitation of that strategy.

In a tweet, the Manchester United defender wrote: "We had a meeting last week with the FA. They recommended from the referees new decisions and rules. From the managers and players, we have shared our concerns for many years now that there are too many games, the schedule is overcrowded, and it’s at a dangerous level for players physical and mental well-being.