Raphael Varane

Ringo 07

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Fergie beats Wenger to French starlet
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson looks to have beaten Arsenal in the race to sign French youngster Raphael Varane.

Fergie is close to tying up a £3million deal for the Lens defender who turned 18 yesterday.

The Old Trafford chief has teed up the move, despite 6ft 3in Varane signing a new contract recently.

He is the surprise name on United’s transfer hit-list and insiders reveal the deal is ‘nearly done’.

Varane, who can play centre-half or defensive midfield, has already made his Lens debut and is the stand-out player in France’s youth sides.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is usually the king of the transfer market in his homeland, but Ferguson seems to have sneaked under the radar for Varane and expects to have him signed up soon.

Varane is earmarked for United’s first-team squad next season, fitting in as cover and putting pressure on fringe men Jonny Evans and Wes Brown.



Read more: Manchester United Arsenal transfer news Lens teenage centre-back and midfielder Raphael Varane set to snub Gunners for £3m move to Old Trafford - News - MirrorFootball.co.uk
 
He's only 18, by the time he is ready for first team football Rio will be gone and Vidic will likely be coming to the end of his career as well. It might not be nearly as bad as it was for Pique who broke through at the time when both our centre halves were at the top of their form and we had Evans emerging as well.
 
probably as 'done' as Rodwell, Henderson, Young, Iturbe, Pastore etc....
 
Mickey said:
Surely a midfield signing? Got to many CB if he plays there.


Or the french rodwell?
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you can never have too many Centre-Backs, look at all the ones we have, but we still had a injury crisis this season, and thankfully Smalling stepped in without a hitch. Plus, O'shea, Brown and Ferdinand are all aging, and have had their fair amount of injuries lately.
 
Mickey said:
Surely a midfield signing? Got to many CB if he plays there.


Or the french rodwell?
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a) As Sarni pointed out, he's 18, and so one for the future - a future that won't include at least Rio.

b) Brown is probably (or at least possibly) on his way this summer, O'Shea isn't getting any younger, and Evans has been off form for a while.

As an 18 year old he's a gamble, but even if Evans recovers, and Smalling develops as we hope he will, and Vidic stays fit and healthy, a 4th quality CB can't hurt.
 
We'll need someone to replace Wes most likely. Not that he'll be read to come into the team immediately(probably).
 
This guy signed a new contract in January that goes on until 2015. It would take a huge sum to sign him, and you do wonder if he'd actually want to leave at this age after signing such a big contract anyway.
 
From the bits and pieces I've read he apparently can also play as a DM and would not go into the reserves, I'll be interested to see what kouroux thinks of him.
 
people suggesting we don't need a new center back need to realize that RIO Vida and brown are no longer young. O'Shea is not a center back anymore,(useful option in a crisis mind).

Ferguson has always looked at the future. And realistically he sees that brown and Ferdinand and possibly Vidic will not be around in 3 to 5 years. This leaves us with Smalling, and Evans as our only center backs. And how old will varane be in 3 years? 21. A good age to start breaking into the team, and with the added bonus of years of settling in and guidance from Ferguson and his coaching team.


With Gill, wootoon and Brown unlikely to break through that means that no outstanding centre half is emerging from within. Next in line are Thorpe and Foransier and maybe Mcginty. I like the look of thorpe but not to sure about fornasier and mcginty seems to be used at left back.

So even assuming that one of the 3 makes it, that leaves us with 4 home grown center halves. No need to sign a new 20m+ center back.

United Center backs in 5 years Time Smalling, Evans, Varane, Thorpe.
You heard it here first :)

Edit - assuming the story is true..
 
He's great on

Damn you!
RonaldoVII said:
I'll say it before someone else does...he's a great youngster on Football Manager :smirk:
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Anyways, buying a young center back is a great idea. Especially if he's French because that means one less player for Arsenal to get. Haven't heard of any special talent in our youth squad that fills that position anyway so why not?
 
Looks like everyone is after him - Bayern, Roma, City, Arsenal, and United. He won't come cheap.

The advantage of being United is that you can spend big on a young player who may or may not actually play heavy minutes in a given season. When Tottenham spent big on Gareth Bale, they had to suffer through years of him not being ready and having a soft defence. If Bale had come to United, then we would have been able to bring him along slowly.

If you are like Arsenal, then you need to spend on a player who can do the business now rather than a player for the future.
 
Sounds a good player, if we are really going for him then the £3 million figure cant be right having just signed a new contract. Sounds like he could be deployed in a DM role and as cover at CB for the next few years until he takes over from the likes of Rio and Brown
 
Ferguson said:
Looks like everyone is after him - Bayern, Roma, City, Arsenal, and United. He won't come cheap.

The advantage of being United is that you can spend big on a young player who may or may not actually play heavy minutes in a given season. When Tottenham spent big on Gareth Bale, they had to suffer through years of him not being ready and having a soft defence. If Bale had come to United, then we would have been able to bring him along slowly.

If you are like Arsenal, then you need to spend on a player who can do the business now rather than a player for the future.
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Tell that to Wenger would ya.

I fully expect Arsenal to continue the 'project' this summer too
 
SAF kicks Wengers ass at finding bargains. Chicarito, Smalling and now Varane in less than a year - he's on fire!
 
Anyone have a screen shot of a developed Varane on FM11? :nervous:

I haven't played that series in a couple years and have lost touch with the player database.
 
Ekeke said:
He might be better than Evans for all we know
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And you should generally have 3 good centre backs anyway. This signing if it is happening is with Rio's age in mind.


MrMarcello said:
The next Mexes perhaps. In that case, pass.

But where does he get in ahead of Evans and Smalling?[/QUOTE]

Evans is talented and has shown his quality before but he's been awful the last year or so. And the bigger clubs like having four centre backs to call upon during a big and long season. And if Evans keeps playing like this, he won't be worth calling on (not saying this will happen). And as I said, Rio is getting to that age where you have to start accounting for a time where he won't be there.
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MrMarcello said:
The next Mexes perhaps. In that case, pass.

But where does he get in ahead of Evans and Smalling?
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If he performs better than Evans then its obvious. Its not like Evans is the only good young defender and his performances havent been good enough this season. How do you know this guy isnt better? Physically he clearly is as he's taller and its hard to imagine he's slower than Evans.

Would be nothing wrong with him becoming as good as Mexes. We have worse CBs in our squad. Although where you're coming up with that comparison I've no idea
 
Hehe this thread would have the double amount of posts if the title said "Raphael Varane to United?";)
 
MrMarcello said:
The next Mexes perhaps. In that case, pass.

But where does he get in ahead of Evans and Smalling?
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Come on, Smalling and Evans aren't exactly the best defenders in the world. Smalling has the potential to become one but Evans hasn't really set the world alight in the past months and I won't be surprised if he's never first choice with us. Besides, we need more than two defenders.
 
You could make a strong argument that Evans' best matches for United were more impressive than Smalling's. I'm as excited about Smalling as anyone, but Evans has shown us that playing well early doesn't mean you aren't going to have a bit of a lull at some point.
 
Six feet three inches already.May come in handy during corners.
 
Ekeke said:
If he performs better than Evans then its obvious. Its not like Evans is the only good young defender and his performances havent been good enough this season. How do you know this guy isnt better? Physically he clearly is as he's taller and its hard to imagine he's slower than Evans. So you're dismissing him performing better than Smalling too?

Would be nothing wrong with him becoming as good as Mexes. We have worse CBs in our squad. Although where you're coming up with that comparison I've no idea
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Ummm... because they're both young French defenders when being linked to the club. :rolleyes:
 
Sarni said:
Come on, Smalling and Evans aren't exactly the best defenders in the world. Smalling has the potential to become one but Evans hasn't really set the world alight in the past months and I won't be surprised if he's never first choice with us. Besides, we need more than two defenders.
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And Varane has set the world alight?
 
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