Real Madrid announced this Tuesday, through an official statement, the transfer of French defender Raphael Varane to Manchester United after a decade in the ranks of the Madrid team.
“Real Madrid and Manchester United FC have agreed to transfer the player Raphael Varane. Our club thanks you for your professionalism and exemplary behavior during the ten seasons in which you have defended our shirt, with which you have won 18 titles : 4 Champions League, 4 Club World Cups, 3 European Super Cups, 3 Leagues, 1 Copa del King and 3 Super Cups of Spain”, explains the white entity in the aforementioned statement.
Real Madrid wanted to show “all their love” to Varane and his family and wished him “luck” in his new stage of his professional career.
Raphael Varane end of an era
Throughout history, Real Madrid has counted pairs of center-backs with whom it lived glory days. Unforgettable were those formed by Ciriaco-Quincoces, Benito-Pirri, Sanchís-Hierro or someone closer in time like the one composed by Ramos-Pepe. Now, after the departure of Ramos to PSG and Raphael Varane to Manchester United, the stability of a duo with which the Madrid team achieved many successes is ending.
Real Madrid let a 28-year-old player who appeared in the 2011/12 season escape. Until 2016/17 he coincided with Pepe and fought for a gap in the white back and achieved total stability together with Ramos in the last year that the Portuguese center-back played in the Madrid club.
Since then, together with the former Real Madrid captain, he has formed one of the most recognized center-back pairs that led from behind the achievement of two League titles, two Spanish Super Cups, two Champions Leagues, one European Super Cup and two World Cups. Clubs
They are not the only trophies that Raphael Varane leaves in Real Madrid. Before finally settling in his line-up, he added more in the 2012-2016 period. But, with Ramos, they were the ones mentioned. Now, Ancelotti, who already knew both in his previous stage, is left without either. The void, for now, must be filled with Eder Militao, David Alaba, Nacho Fernández and Jesús Vallejo. That’s all you have on hand except for some reinforcement.
Cause of Varane’s exit
What has led Real Madrid to lose two players of the caliber of Ramos and Raphael Varane? Much has already been written about the first. President Florentino Pérez offered to renew one season and Ramos wanted two. He did not accept the offer and called on the white chief executive to draw a template without him. Later, he recoiled, but it was too late and PSG received him with open arms.
Varane’s case may be due to two factors: economic and a necessary change of scenery. In July, Real Madrid made official the status of its finances as a result of the pandemic. Although it still has positive numbers, it stopped earning 300 million euros.
Varane ends his contract in June 2023 and has a valuation close to 70 million. Therefore, it was urgent to get revenue before it was free. Real Madrid will take out for him an amount between 50 and 60 million that will relieve their coffers with a possible signing of Mbappé on the horizon and a remodeling of the stadium to pay.
In addition, after a decade in the white club, Varane already seems burned. Without his supporter, Zinedine Zidane, the man who convinced him to sign for Real Madrid when he was still 18 years old, and without Ramos, his combat partner, Raphael Varane needed new challenges in his career. He has found them in England and at United he will sign one of his last major contracts.
Raphael Varane is a key loss to Real Madrid
Ancelotti will lose a very important player. Quick to cross, elegant, powerful in the air, forceful and sure, Raphael Varane arrived at the white club recommended by Zidane and with the approval of José Mourinho. For ten million euros, he left Lens and began his story with the white elastic.
“I was in high school and Zidane called me, but I answered without really knowing who he was. He spoke to me and told me it wasn’t a joke, it was him. He was ashamed and as it was a surprise I told him that if he could call me at another time, that he was busy. You imagine many things but never Real Madrid. He was so big for me that I didn’t even think about him. In the end I decided to sign”.
This is how Raphael Varane narrated in 2012 how he came to the Madrid club. Many did not know who he was, but others knew that he was going to succeed. The one who was its president, Gervais Martel, was clear: “Some think that Raphaël is not going to play much for Madrid, but I can say that he will not go there to paint the changing rooms. He is a very intelligent player, everyone knows it.
Erratic Centrals
He was not wrong. Raphael Varane leaves behind 360 official matches with Real Madrid in which he scored 18 goals with a record that is difficult to match, including the 2018 World Cup in Russia that he won with France. Manchester United, without a doubt, have signed a top level player.
Now Real Madrid hopes not to experience a transition full of obstacles. Just as he has had pairs of center-backs who have made history, he has also lived orphaned stages of a stability that countless players tried.
There are the names of Ricardo Rocha, Predrag Spasic, Francisco Pavón, Álvaro Mejía, Walter Samuel, Jonathan Woodgate, Christoph Metzelder, Gabriel Heinze, Fabio Cannavaro, Óscar Ruggeri, or Ricardo Carvalho. Between the year 2000 until Pepe and Ramos settled with the help of Albiol and Varane, Real Madrid spent about 150 million euros on centrals.
Without Raphael Varane a new cycle opens. If Real Madrid is not affected by his loss and his substitute, whoever he is, complies, a great economic move will have been completed. He spent little and earned a lot. But that is an assumption. At the moment, the reality is that he loses a player who was good, nice and cheap. Without him, a cycle of large power plants is closed that never knows when it will return.
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