Having already lost out on Sergio Ramos, Real Madrid are now menacingly close to seeing another defensive stalwart in Raphael Varane leave the club.
While Ramos signed for Paris Saint-Germain last week, Varane has been linked with a move to Manchester United for several weeks. The Frenchman’s contract expires at the end of 2021/22 and Los Blancos would prefer selling him off if the right offer arrives, rather than to lose him for free a year later. Varane has kept stalling on a renewal despite numerous offers from the club.
According to Diario AS journalist Edu Cornago, the Red Devils are now ‘very close’ to reaching an agreement with Los Blancos for signing Varane. The Frenchman was labeled for a transfer fee of 70 million euros, which Manchester United could be set to meet.
Varane will be their second major signing after Jadon Sancho in this summer’s transfer window.
El acuerdo Varane-United está muy cerca de producirse. Varane ve con buenos ojos la opción de ir al Manchester. En el Madrid busca un proyecto deportivo que, de momento, no le dan…
— Edu Cornago (@educornago) July 10, 2021
Real Madrid are right for not offering Raphael Varane more
Varane desires a new challenge after having won every possible title with Real Madrid over the course of a decade at the Santiago Bernabeu. The central defender also earns relatively lower than several other players, including the newly signed David Alaba. As such, he has the right to demand an increase in wages that would make him one of the club’s best-paid players.
At the same time, Real Madrid are right in their stance of not offering much higher. The club is suffering due to the coronavirus and has its eyes set on making a recovery, with saved funds only reserved for signing one of Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe- or possibly both. However, there are bigger worrying signs than the salary matter.
Cornago says that Varane is not convinced by the sporting project being presented to him. That comes as a major letdown for not just a legend of the club, but also the fanbase who were hoping for a major change in proceedings of the first team, especially the signing of an ace goal-scorer.
The veracity of these claims remains to be seen, and only time will tell what kind of a squad revamp happens in the ongoing transfer window, and more importantly, if one happens.
As for Varane, he will be going to Manchester United by the looks of it, but there is little to suggest that signing for the Old Trafford-based outfit will be a worthy prospect. Despite building a decent squad, the Premier League giants are still far off crosstown rivals, Manchester City, and considerably behind Chelsea and Liverpool too in terms of the quality of players.