Manchester United have made Real Madrid centre-back Raphael Varane their major transfer target after finally reaching an agreement to sign Jadon Sancho, reports say.
The Red devils have now agreed a deal in principle with Borussia Dortmund to sign Sancho for an initial £72.6m.
The England international is set to undertake a medical at Old Trafford before being officially unveiled as a Manchester United player.
United enjoyed a promising campaign under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer last season and are ready to back the manager with a number of signings this summer window.
After securing the signature of Sancho, United will look to sign a new central defender partner for Harry Maguire, with Madrid’s Varane at the top of Solskjaer’s wish-list, according to The Telegraph.
Varane has spent almost a decade at Santiago Bernabeu and won a couple of trophies at Madrid but is stalling over signing a new deal and reportedly wants to leave to take up a new challenge.
The Frenchman is reported to be open to joining United but may have his head turned by Chelsea who have this week entered the race for the player.
However, Rio Ferdinand doubts his former club or Chelsea will sign Varane this summer, and believes he is simply trying to get himself a better deal.
‘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.’
