It seems like Chelsea have already started planning for next season already. Already this week, reports emerged that Chelsea are close to wrapping up deals for Atletico Madrid duo Diego Costa and Filipe Luis, and now Spanish newspaper Marca claims, Jose Mourinho wants Rapahel Varane to join him in the summer as well.
Earlier we reported that Mourinho is ready to listen to offers for Brazilian David Luiz, and should he be sold, the London giants could use the money to lure Varane from Madrid. In any case, money is not a problem for the Blues and Mourinho has asked Chelsea hierarchies to splash the cash on the highly exiting French defender.
Varane joined Real Madrid in the summer of 2011 for a reported fee of €10m, thanks to the scouting power of Zinedine Zidane, who saw the potential in the player during his time with Lens.
Mourinho was equally impressed with Varane from the moment he arrived. The Portuguese gave him opportunity to flourish and used him on a regular basis in the first team. And last season under Mourinho, Varane featured regularly for the Los Blancos replacing Pepe as central defender alongside Ramos, notching up 33 total appearances.
However, a serious injury on his right knee kept him out of action for several months, and after coming back from operation, his role in the team has changed substantially.
Under Carlo Ancelotti, he is now the third choice centre-back at the club, as the Italian relies heavily on the pair of Pepe and Ramos. Varane is mostly used as a sub and even getting limited time in cup games as well.
Varane is looking for regular game time which Mourinho can assure him at Chelsea. Mourinho can now look forward to forging a strong defensive set-up with young players (Kurt Zouma signed already) but Varane’s arrival would surely mark the end of Luiz’ future at Stamford Bridge.
Add Sportslens to your Google News Feed!
