Manchester United will not be sorry to see Raphael Varane leave at the end of the season.
Picking up an eye-watering £340,000-per week, the French defender is one of the Red Devils’ highest earners.
However, despite signing with a wealth of trophy-winning experience following his 10 years at Real Madrid, Varane, 30, has become surplus to requirements under Erik Ten Hag, and, according to Football Insider, will be allowed to depart the club once his contract expires in the summer.
Rumoured to be a target for some of Saudi Arabia’s wealthiest clubs, as well as linked with an emotional return to his native France, Manchester United’s number 19 will need to decide his future sooner rather than later.
Regardless of where the 30-year-old ends up, set to clear his huge wages off the club’s books and presumably reinvest them into new signings or some much-needed improved facilities, one of the first things on Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s, United’s new 25 per cent stakeholder, to-do list, will be to resolve the future of the four-time Champions League winner.
In terms of possible replacements, the Red Devils have been heavily linked with Nice’s Jean-Clair Todibo and Bayern Munich’s Matthijs de Ligt.