Raphael Varane exclusive interview: Manchester United centre-back fulfilling his Old Trafford destiny

Raphael Varane is casting his mind back to the summer of 2011, when Europe’s biggest clubs were vying for his signature and Sir Alex Ferguson appeared at the door of his mother’s house in Lille to try and persuade him to join Manchester United.

The centre-back, 18 at the time, would end up choosing Real Madrid following a late intervention from Zinedine Zidane. But even as the seasons passed and the silverware stacked up in the Spanish capital, Manchester United remained in his thoughts. Ferguson did not get his man but his trip to Lille was not in vain.

“It was a special moment for me and my family,” Varane tells Sky Sports, speaking over Zoom from the club’s Carrington headquarters a decade on. “It’s amazing to meet a person like him at 18. You know, after that, it’s your destiny. Ten years in Madrid and now I’m here.”