Manchester United surely got a huge blow when their long-time target Raphael Varane recently revealed that he wishes to spend the rest of his career at Santiago Bernabeu.
Varane told Le Figaro, “Right now, I would like to stay at Real Madrid until the end of my career. Things are going very fast in this industry, but why would I not want to retire at Madrid? There is no reason for me to leave. I am feeling very well at Madrid. It is obviously very difficult to predict what the future looks like, but I cannot see myself leaving at the moment.”
The 23-year-old French defender was one of the most favoured targets of Red Devils boss Jose Mourinho for a long time. The Portuguese had signed him during his spell at the Santiago Bernabeu. Now with that prospect a possibly dead end at the moment, United will have to look at other options as they are facing a defensive crisis with many injuries in the centre-back position and players underperforming.
United have cash and they are not shy of spending it, which was quite clear in Paul Pogba’s case and Mourinho, who is known for buying his way out of problems, can have other defenders who could be equally good as the Frenchman.
Here are 3 possible alternatives Mourinho can target.
Javi Martinez – FC Bayern Munchen
After Bayern signed Mats Hummels from rivals Borussia Dortmund, Javi Martinez’s time seemed up in the German giant’s first-team as Jerome Boateng pairing with Mats Hummels will always be the first choice. But Martinez has not backed down. Boateng’s early injury gave Martinez a chance and he took it brilliantly.
An amazing distributor of the ball, Martinez’s pass accuracy of 92% is currently the most by any player at Bayern. He also excels at the headed duels with a win percentage of 83. The Spaniard is currently injured and out of the team but a player of his calibre is always welcome at United.
Marquinhos – PSG
At an early age of 22, the Brazilian is showing massive maturity at the centre back position. Alongside Thiago Silva, the young defender has been brilliant this season. He has appeared 9 times for PSG so far and has won 11 tackles this season with a success rate of 65%. He has made 11 interceptions, 18 clearances and two blocks. His pass accuracy is 92%, which is very good considering his age. Besides Bailly, who relies more on strength, Marquinhos could a centre-back with his game-reading ability. He could turn out to be a great long-term prospect.
Michael Keane – Burnley
Although it is not Jose Mourinho’s nature to identify young talents and make them great by nurturing them on a regular basis, in Michael Keane, United have a serious talent to consider. Keane has been really impressive at the back, to say the least.
He has established himself as one of the Premier League’s best young defenders this season and has earned a thoroughly deserved England call-up. He was in the team who won the FA Youth Cup with Lingard and Pogba. He is second among the Premier league’s defenders for headed clearances and only Hull City’s Curtis Davies has made more blocks than Keane’s 13. Will he be open to coming back to the place that kicked off his career though?
