Manchester United are stepping up their attempts to sign Raphael Varane after reaching an agreement with Dortmund to buy long-term transfer target Jadon Sancho.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is keen to strengthen his defence and partner captain Harry Maguire with a world-class centre-back.
Varane is exactly that having won the Champions League a staggering four times as well as the World Cup.
What’s more, the France international is out of contract at Real Madrid next summer and appears to have no current plans to pen an extension.
It is therefore in Los Blancos’ best interest to sell the 28-year-old defender now and at least make some money for him rather than lose him on a free next season.
(Image: CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
According to ABC Sports, Varane is so open to the idea of moving to Manchester United that he wants to leave Real Madrid within the next two weeks to ensure he gets a full pre-season with his new teammates.
Whether United can make the transfer happen within the next week remains to be seen.
The club has prioritised landing Sancho, who they were in hot pursuit of last summer and are now finally in the process of signing.
Sancho made his first start for England in the Euros on Saturday night in a 4-0 win over Ukraine.
The victory means the Three Lions are now in the semi-final, where they will take on Denmark on Wednesday.
Alan Shearer said of Sancho on BBC One: “What a week it has been for him. Obviously signing for Manchester United, he’s coming in on the back of an excellent season.
“Sixteen goals he got last season, plenty of assists, Gareth [Southgate] knows what he can do and he likes to switch it around Gareth. He perhaps doesn’t trust him [Jack Grealish] going the other way, defensively.
“He’s proving that he can do damage when teams are on tired legs. Because we’ve had such a long, hard season, these players are running on empty at times.
“You can imagine that Gareth is looking at his bench and he’s seeing Grealish, he’s seeing [Phil] Foden and whoever else and he can go an unleash them, go on fresh and cause some damage.”
