3 reasons why Real Madrid aren’t trying hard to keep Raphael Varane

The club has a ready-made replacement in Eder Militao

When Sergio Ramos, the greatest defender in the history of the club left the club, the club didn’t have to spend a single penny to sign a replacement for the captain. They signed David Alaba on a free transfer to replace the Andalusian, who left for free after his contract expired on 30th June.

Now Raphael Varane is expected to leave the club, which means that the club would be losing both their starting centre-backs in the same window. Varane’s sale will be generating around 50 million, but the club still wouldn’t invest a single penny on a replacement. Because the club already has Eder Militao, who can be a like-to-like replacement for the Frenchman.

In 2019, Eder Militao was signed for €50 million to be the club’s third-choice centre-back behind Ramos and Varane. In 2020, he slipped to the position of a fourth-choice centre-back after Nacho’s redemption at Real Madrid. But he turned around things completely in April 2021, as he became a starter for the club with Varane and Ramos out with COVID-19 and a calf injury respectively.

Militao took his chance and he took it in a brilliant way, as he impressed everyone with his performances, making everyone realise why he should be starting next season. He is naturally a right centre-back, the position in which Varane plays, and most of his attributes are similar to the No.5, which makes Militao an ideal replacement for Varane.

With Varane about to enter his prime at the age of 28, it would be great if Real Madrid get to avail of his services for few more years. Though the partnership of Varane and Militao hasn’t been that great in the limited games they played together, they can still form a great pair if given some regular game time. But we might not witness that happening, and Real Madrid may end up with Alaba and Militao as their starting centre-backs.

Vallejo would be the one to fill in for the spot of a fourth choice centre-back, according to MARCA, with Mario Gila and Victor Chust as other possible options. And with the club not interested in spending a lot for any of Pau Torres or Jules Kounde due to the pandemic losses, we might see Real Madrid spending zero bucks on the defensive department this summer.