Manchester Evening News journalist Samuel Luckhurst has rubbished talk of Raphael Varane being a ‘problem’ at his former club Real Madrid before moving to Old Trafford last summer.
The France international had a great career at the Bernabeu before moving to Man Utd, though it would be fair to say he’s not made the biggest impact in his first season in English football.
United have generally been poor, however, so it’s hard to pin that on any individual player, though fans will probably have hoped for a bit more from Varane.
Still, Luckhurst insists any interest from the Red Devils in signing another centre-back like Villarreal ace Pau Torres has nothing to do with issues with Varane…
The partisan chatter in Spain about Varane being a 'problem' at Madrid is nonsense. Madrid offered him a new contract. Final fee was a reasonable £43m (Madrid wanted more), to be paid in instalments. #mufc are keen on Torres, as @RichFay revealed, but unrelated to Varane.
— Samuel Luckhurst (@samuelluckhurst) May 10, 2022
Varane was clearly a key player at Madrid, with Luckhurst insisting the Spanish giants wanted to keep him at the club and also wanted more money for him before eventually allowing him to move for £43million.
It will be interesting to see if Varane can perform better next season with an improved defensive partner alongside him, with Harry Maguire looking a real weak link in this squad at the moment.