Raphael Varane ended his trophy-loaded career from Real Madrid earlier than many expected after he had achieved everything he could and chose Manchester United to “experience something else”.
Only a few trophy cabinet can compete with the World Cup winner center. Over a decade in the Spanish capital between 2011 and 2021, Varane won every available title and in 2014 demanded four Champions League crowns, three La -League trophies and a single Copa del Rey.
Varane was still 28 and probably in his heyday when he surprisingly left Madrid to join Manchester United in a deal worth around £ 41 million. The change from several years of European champions to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s dysfunctional Old Trafford-Outfit surprised many, and the now retired Frenchman has illuminated his decision-making process.
“Madrid is indescribable, it is exceptional, but I’ve already experienced it” The bridge Podcast. “And I said to myself that I want to experience something else. For myself, England and especially Manchester, they feel the passion for football, they feel it, they live every day. Now that some time has passed, I am not regretting an incredible experience.”
Varane may not regret it, but he not only slowly condemned United ‘hierarchy and Erik Ten Hag’s “fear” tactics.
Interestingly, the first steps that Varane made to a Real Madrid departure took three years before he finally left the Spanish giants. “It was a long process,” he said. “It is not as if you wake up and say in the morning. In 2018 I won everything. In fact, we quickly celebrated our fourth Champions League. It was like a normal thing that is the next step to win the Champions League and think about the next.
“Then I won the World Cup and told myself I did everything. It came in my life when I restructured myself, checked some things about the management of my career and told me I have to continue to feel feelings.”