Feeling the need to publicly justify his decisions in the Old Trafford hot seat long before premature Champions League exits and 12-minute impassioned rants that spoke of “football heritage”, Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho, forever-criticised for his perceived negligence of young talent, went on the defensive with a memorable 2016 press conference in which he boldly claimed to have promoted 49 players from youth academies during his successful tenure in club football.
Among the most prominent of the names reeled off was that of French international Raphaël Varane who, although having appeared 23 times for Lens back in his homeland before heading to La Liga, was admittedly first given a chance at the elite level by Mourinho - who purchased him for a paltry £8million to compete with Pepe and Sergio Ramos for a starting centre back berth in 2011.
For the trust Mourinho showed in him, no better defined by a decision to select the then-out of form 19-year-old for a Champions League fixture against Manchester City the following year, Varane has often spoke of the “special relationship” the pair harbour with the Portuguese having gone on record to brand his former charge the world’s best young defender.
Now aged 24, few would argue with this assessment of Varane, who along with Brazil and PSG regular Marquinhos is fast approaching the peak of his career as one of his generation’s foremost defensive talents.
Disappointed by the likes of Chris Smalling and Phil Jones, as injuries to additional options including Eric Bailly and Marcos Rojo remain a common occurrence, reports have emerged that Mourinho is prepared to test the waters with a £50mn bid to land Varane. With Sergio Ramos heading into the twilight of his career and paired only by Nacho in Varane’s absence in terms of established talent however, it is understood that Bernabeu officials will not let their man go cheap whilst the hotly-tipped Jesús Vallejo waits in the wings.
