Chelsea are considering hijacking Manchester United’s summer transfer move for Real Madrid defender Raphael Varane, according to reports.
While Chelsea boasted an impressive defensive record under Thomas Tuchel last canpaign – keeping 11 clean sheets in 19 league matches – the club are open to bolstering their team with a new centre-back.
Varane, who has spent almost a decade at Santiago Bernabeu, has been linked with a move to Old Trafford, but Eurosport claim the blues are also interested in securing his signature.
Varane is stalling over signing a new Madrid contract and recent reports claim he wants to leave this summer window in order to take on a new challenge.
A move to Manchester United, where he would partner Harry Maguire, could suit but the London club are also in the conversation.
Eurosport say Chelsea have other defensive targets in case Varane ends up staying at the Spanish club.
Varane started all four of France’s matches at Euro 2020, including their dramatic last-16 penalty shootout defeat to Switzerland.
Chelsea are also looking to strengthen Tuchel’s attacking options this summer following a season in which the Blues finished fourth in the Premier League and won the Champions League.
Varane has played 360 games for Real Madrid and Rio Ferdinand has warned United and Chelsea that he will ‘100 per cent’ stay at the club.
‘Varane is just doing things, massaging the papers, the media papers and the headlines to get a bigger deal at Real Madrid,’ Ferdinand told his FIVE YouTube channel.
‘If Varane doesn’t sign a new deal at Real Madrid, I’ll be surprised. Real Madrid are not letting Ramos and Varane go in the same window, 100 per cent. He’s not going anywhere, man’s gonna get a new deal.
‘It’s happened in the past, it’s not new, players like [Toni] Kroos and [Bastian] Schweinsteiger have done it. At Bayern as well, they’ve all done it.’
