Raphael Varane has reportedly turned down an offer from Manchester United and Jose Mourinho to stay at Real Madrid.
Mourinho was at Madrid when Varane was signed from Lens as an 18-year-old and United were one of three teams to approach the France international this summer, Marca reports, but all have been knocked back.
A fee in the region of €40m has been mooted while United’s interest was made known to Varane through Mourinho himself, it’s claimed, who made it clear he wanted him at Old Trafford.
Varane said no after ‘thinking very seriously’ about the proposal and his situation at Santiago Bernabeu, where he remains third choice behind captain Sergio Ramos and the long-serving Pepe.
Madrid didn’t consider letting Varane go either and the case was settled by a conversation between the player and Zinedine Zidane, who was instrumental in Madrid signing Varane in the first place.
Varane came out of the meeting of the opinion that it wasn’t the right decision to leave the Bernabeu and the disappointment he felt at being dropped for Pepe at the end of last season has by now subsided.
His intention is to force his way into Zidane’s plans for the new season and it’s said his work in pre-season thus far reflects that motivation, and Varane’s only goal is to become entrenched as Ramos’ partner at centre-back.
