Manchester United and Liverpool will surely want to take note of transfer news emerging today involving Real Madrid defender Raphael Varane.
The France international’s future has looked in doubt for some time now, with L’Equipe recently reporting that he’s considering his future at the Bernabeu.
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This then saw Don Balon link Man Utd and Liverpool as being among Varane’s numerous admirers, and there’s been another twist in the tale.
The latest from L’Equipe, as translated by the Mirror, is that the 25-year-old won’t be getting a new contract from Real Madrid, despite some suggestion that he’s using this transfer talk as an opportunity to improve the terms of his current deal.
This could mean Varane is more readily available in the near future, and that could be a huge opportunity for United and Liverpool.
The Red Devils need an upgrade on under-performing defenders like Eric Bailly and Phil Jones, and have also been linked with Barcelona’s Samuel Umtiti by Mundo Deportivo.
Liverpool, meanwhile, lack depth behind their first choice centre-back pairing of Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez, the latter of whom has been very injury prone.
This has meant far too much playing time for unconvincing performers like Dejan Lovren and Joel Matip, with Varane undoubtedly a big improvement on them.