Saudi Pro League is interested in Raphael Varane, but Manchester United wants to let him go

Raphael Varane and Manchester United are allegedly going to split ways during the current transfer window. The Frenchman was among the top center defenders at Old Trafford when he came there in 2021. To put it mildly, Varane’s time with the Red Devils hasn’t exactly been stellar. As a result, Erik ten Hag, the United coach, began to rely more on other players than his standout center-back. It has now been revealed in an exclusive report by Fussball.news that Varane may be transferred to an overseas team in January for a sum of €30 million. The same source states that Al-Nassr and Al-Ittihad, two Saudi Pro League teams, are vying for the signing of the Frenchman.

Raphael Varane cost around £41 million to transfer from Real Madrid to Old Trafford. He committed to the English team for four years, ending in 2025, and he made a respectable first impression. But he quickly suffered a string of ailments that caused him to alternate between the starting lineup and the bench, finally landing a spot. Varane has only started seven Premier League games this season. The Frenchman didn’t really affect the game in the matches he participated in. Erik ten Hag, his coach, was compelled to sell the great defender for £25.8 million as a result of this.

Raphael Varane’s sensational transfer was once seen as a “win-win” scenario for Real Madrid and Manchester United until things went south. At only 28, United was acquiring a highly accomplished defender while his previous club was getting rid of him for a tidy sum. With the Los Blancos, Varane took home four FIFA Club World Cups, three La Liga championships, and every UEFA Champions League trophy possible. The Frenchman retired from the international squad on February 2 of the previous year, having already won the World Cup with France in 2018.

The two primary teams vying for Raphael Varane are Karim Benzema’s Al-Ittihad and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr, according to the most recent reports. At Real Madrid, Ronaldo, Benzema, and Varane were comrades who shared several championships. The Frenchman may be persuaded to join one of the two Saudi sides during the winter transfer window by their previous ties. In his two and a half years with Manchester United, Varane has made 79 appearances for the English team. Varane scored two goals and provided one assist in those contests. In 2022–2023, he and United also won the EFL Cup, breaking the team’s six-year trophy drought. It would be intriguing to see whether the defender would contemplate moving to Saudi Arabia in January since there have been no firm advances about the Frenchman’s trade.