Reports suggest that Jose Mourinho is interested in taking Real Madrid defender Raphael Varane to Old Trafford this summer. Mourinho has been a long-term admirer of the French international and will look to make a move in the next transfer window.
The player is rated at around £50million and it would be difficult for any club to pry him away from the Santiago Bernabeu, as he is a key part of the starting 11 at the moment. A solid partnership has been built up with club captain Sergio Ramos and many Real Madrid fans would be really disappointed if that was broken up.
Manchester United have actually tried to sign Raphael Varane before, way back in 2011 when Sir Alex Ferguson was still in charge. On that occasion Real Madrid won the race to sign the Frenchman and The Red Devils moved on to other targets.
Mourinho’s Second Attempt
Mourinho actually attempted to sign Varane himself back in 2014 when he was Chelsea boss, but Real Madrid did not want to sell. The latest suggestions are that Man United have now launched an attempt to sign Varane.
The player just signed a new bumper deal at Real Madrid in September, with the contract due to run until the summer of 2022. It is expected that Los Blancos would look to reject any bids for one of their key defenders, unless the fee was too good to turn down.
The reports suggest that Man United would be willing to pay around £40m, with Real instead looking for a fee of £50m. He is clearly a valuable player as he is still only 24 years old, plus he will be going to the World Cup with France in the summer.
If Varane was to leave, you can be sure that Florentino Perez and Zinedine Zidane will have identified some potential replacements.
