When we signed Rio, Nesta moved in the same summer. Varane may not be the absolute best in the world at the moment, but he's right up there, and Rio was awesome for us. If this is possible we need to make it happen.
Raphaël Varane - Summer 2019
- Thread starter IrishRedDevil
- Start date
Varane is a brilliant player, but has performed pretty poorly this season like all his teammates in a dysfunctional team. Rumors has it that he is not satisfied with how he has been treated by Real, as he has played games where he wanted to rest, and that nobody seemed to care that he won the world cup. Griezmann, Lemar and Lucas Hernandez got a session with the world cup trophy at their first home game the season for Atletico, and Varane was reported to be wanting something similar. He has played for Real for 8 years and developed into a top player, and I think a new challenge is what he needs to develop further. He is at a perfect age for us in our current CB situation, as we need someone that can strengthen the starting 11 from day 1 but still be a long-term solution. I think a transfer fee would be about the same as Van Dijk (80 mill), and I think he can have a similar impact as Van Dijk. If we can bring him in and let Lindelöf, Smalling and Bailly fight for the last CB spot, we would have a CB pair that can match both City and Liverpool.
He is as good as any CB in the world, as good as Van Dijk, and was actually my pick for the Golden Ball at the WC. Only question mark for me is his injury record (and I suppose whether he actually wants to go or just wants a new contract).
Agreed. I dont understand the urge to sign a CB. Smalling and Lindelof have been good, even though I've never liked Smalling hes been more than reliable this season. Same for Jones, he's been reliable. We should develop Bailly and Tuanzebe next season. Our defense is good I think. We should invest in a top midfielder, a right wing and a left back. Also 100m for Varane is too much. 60-70 ok.
Everyone spoke for years about Ronaldo coming home, but the real prodigal’s son tale will be when we re-sign Felliani
He isn't as good as Van Dijk. He's never come close to a full season on the level Van Dijk has been playing this season
Might reach that level still, sure, but right now he's nowhere near that level
I can definitely see that happening, fixating on players who just aren't that into us all summer while the great players of future all go elsewhere. Come on Woody, get your head out of your arse and listen to the scouts.
This would be a far better bet than Maguire, who I simply don't rate at all other than he is fairly confident with the ball at his feet, or Toby A who is getting on a bit!
But can he do it on a rainy night at Stoke?
On a more serious note, I know he's a very good CB. Just interested in knowing how exceptional he is defensively. I mean, nobody really considers Real despite their cup successes are a superb defensive unit. Ramos gets more plaudits for his goals than his actual defending.
Would love it if we got Varane.
Reminds me so much of Rio. Doesn't seem to get flustered, confident on the ball and just goes about his business quietly and effectively. Is also very quick.
Would be an absolute steal at £70m and I wouldn't mind if we paid £100m.
Reminds me so much of Rio. Doesn't seem to get flustered, confident on the ball and just goes about his business quietly and effectively. Is also very quick.
Would be an absolute steal at £70m and I wouldn't mind if we paid £100m.
Yes, but it means Real could play around with the price and make extreme demands, especially if rich clubs like United come for him.
That is if they are not actively looking to get rid of him.
Has he ever had a top top league season? Maybe the year Zidane won the league? Like I've said, he's accomplished plenty. But I'm not certain he's the rock solid elite CB that his expected price would imply.
Regardless I imagine he'd be a huge addition to our team.
Honestly I don't care whether we buy Varane or Koulibaly or Skriniar. The truth is that we need a top top CB because right now we have Smalling, Jones, Bailly and Lindelof. Nobody would consider those good enough to win the PL or CL.
If we were planning to go for another CB, then I doubt we would have extended Smalling and then Jones.
If Varane is coming, it would probably be because Woodward had wet dreams of him last summer.
Agreed. If we fork out 100 mil on him and lets say 100 mil on Sancho or more I don't see Ed spending any more money after that.
If we fork out 100mil on a CB we're plain stupid. Most of the pressure on our CB's come from Matic being slow, Young leaving so much space between him and his CB and us not having a very functional Pogba +1CM setup. (This was so evident against Watford imo.)
Fix the RB, CM and RW situations, keep the ball more and the issues in the defense will be less obvious.
Fix the RB, CM and RW situations, keep the ball more and the issues in the defense will be less obvious.
Varane and Alderweireld for circa £100m would be a fantastic investment - automatically upgrade the overall quality and distribution of the defence.
Allow Godfrey a season to gain experience the Premier League with Norwich, then bring him in to gradually succeed Toby.
Allow Godfrey a season to gain experience the Premier League with Norwich, then bring him in to gradually succeed Toby.
Ramos and Varane are generally left on an island with the midfielders and fullbacks not interested in defending or maintaining a defensive structure, particularly in the league. They tend to be more focused in CL or big games against Barcelona or Atletico but defending is mainly a matter of automatism which means that they will not be good as long as they don't take it seriously on a weekly basis.
That's the hallmark of a top top defender, he doesn't do fancy things, doesn't go for eye catching tackles. Just do the simple tackles, running with the forward with ease and most importantly his positioning, awareness, ease with which he clears the ball makes him among top 5 defenders in the world.
Worth half max. Decent CB, overrated
None of that is what hes done this season. He's made plenty of mistakes
100% agree with this!
Add De Ligt to the mix (but he can't be the only CB bought if so), we need to chop a lot of deadwood and bring in better technical players.
Van Gaal actually confirmed Ramos almost signing with United when he was a pundit for the Bayern-Madrid game last (I think) season
That’s the point. No chance Pogba is worth less then 200m when Real values Varane at 100m. If say Real let Varane join us for 75m I have no problem in Pogba joining Real for 150m, which would be far more realistic in both ends.
Can we stop quoting figures from the Neymar-to-PSG era? That's not going to happen. Mbappe is the only player who will come close or maybe surpass those numbers. De Jong, who everybody wanted and was ready to have a bidding war on, went for 90m and that was very high due to the competition. No one is buying Pogba for 150-200m IMO.
I was making a point in case of United pursuing Varane with the current rumors of Pogba to Real.
In the same climate if a CB Varane is valued at 100m then we should value Pogba at 200m. Realistically both are overpriced and if 100m is unrealistic for us, who’s gonna pay more for Varane?
Varane is worth a lot of money, he and Koulibaly can realistically surpass VvD's price, but I agree that he is overpriced as well. However, I disagree that Pogba is worth twice what Varane is worth. There's obviously a lot of people who are underestimating the ability of the lad, but for me he and Koulibaly are players that instantly improves your defense to an elite level and make you a bigger threat on set pieces which are so important. Now, I agree Pogba should be worth more but that's a lot more to do with his commercial value than their difference in impact.
But either way, I agree with those who see this as nothing more than a ploy to get a better contract. I can't see Varane wanting to leave Madrid to come live in Manchester for a club that still has to make its necessary upgrades to be seen as a challenger on all fronts, which is what he'd be looking for as he's a born winner.
The most overrated player in Football and we are not going to be able to sign him anyway.
If we’re paying that much, he makes more sense than Koulibaly.
I would take De Ligt over him, but i wouldnt complain with Varane.
Imagine wanting your exec sacked at your football club for signing Raphael fecking Varane!
Looking at this thread I'd say he is massively underrated
Why?
£100 million for a defender who has defended to a below average level this season.
Maybe Varane hasn't been great this season but look at what he's achieved in his career for club and country.
If he really does want to leave (or is trying the Ramos method of getting bumper new contract) you should be in there. Thought he really stood up to be the leader in a young France back 4 in the WC so shows he does have authority to be dominant CB.
If he really does want to leave (or is trying the Ramos method of getting bumper new contract) you should be in there. Thought he really stood up to be the leader in a young France back 4 in the WC so shows he does have authority to be dominant CB.
I think he had a couple of good games at the WC in the final stages yeah. But for all we know "what he has accomplished" was also his peak. At 26 and on current form we might be getting the worst version of him, which is what this season would suggest.
Now in general I'm not against taking that chance. But £100 million isnt a chance. Thats money for a sure bet. Half of that would be taking a chance on Varane.
Remember Rio saying he was the 'best defender on the planet' this time last year.
Not watched him at all this season, but judging by the comments he's not been great.
Not watched him at all this season, but judging by the comments he's not been great.
It's not worth it. You fix the DM and full backs our defense will be immediately upgraded. I would say, fix our midfield and attack before spending 100m for a CB.