Manchester United Lining-Up £25m Bid For French International

The opening of the summer transfer window is fast approaching so we’ll bring you all the latest transfer rumours and gossip from around the globe. Today, Manchester United are linked with Raphael Varane….

Manchester United are lining-up a £25m bid for Real Madrid centre-back Raphael Varane as they look to solve their defensive problems this summer, according to the Mirror.

United have been force to blood several youngsters at the back this season due to a spate of injury problems with Phil Jones in particular suffering a series of issues that have kept him on the sidelines for much of the campaign.

Daley Blind has been forced to fill-in at the back but a long-term partner for Chris Smalling appears to be a priority this summer and it looks as though United are ready to renew their interest in Varane.

The Mirror claim that United came close to signing the French international back in 2011 but Sir Alex Ferguson opted for Phil Jones instead and Varane ended up joining Madrid from Ligue 1 outfit Lens.

However, the newspaper suggests that the 23-year-old is back on the Manchester giants’ radar and United will test Madrid’s resolve with a formal £25m offer over the coming weeks.

Varane has struggled to hold down a regular place at the Bernabeu with Pepe more often than not chosen as the partner for Sergio Ramos in the middle of defence, especially in big games with Varane overlooked for the recent Champions League semi-final’s against Manchester City.

This had led to speculation that the defender could look for a move this summer in search of regular action and it appears United are now ready to offer him first team football in a bid to lure him to Old Trafford.

An interesting side note is that Jose Mourinho was the man in charge at Madrid when they signed Varane five years ago and the Portuguese coach has been tipped to replace Louis van Gaal as United manager this summer, so perhaps the pair will be reunited.

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Varane is set to play a key role for France at this summers European Championships and there will be no shortage of takers if Madrid did agree to cash-in, so United may want to act fast or risk missing out.

We’ll have to wait and see how this develops but Varane is one of the best young central defenders in European football so he’d be a sensational addition if United could agree a deal with Madrid for his signature.