Raphael Varane ended his trophy-laden Real Madrid career earlier than many expected after achieving all that he could, opting to join Manchester United to “experience something else”.
The World Cup-winning centre-back has a trophy cabinet few can rival. During a decade in the Spanish capital between 2011 and 2021, Varane won every available title, claiming four Champions League crowns, three La Liga trophies and a single Copa del Rey in 2014.
Varane was still 28 and arguably in his prime when he surprisingly left Madrid to join Manchester United in a deal worth around £41m. The move from perennial European champions to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s dysfunctional Old Trafford outfit came as a surprise to many, and the now retired Frenchman has shed some light on his decision-making process.
“Madrid is indescribable, it’s exceptional, but I’ve already experienced it,” the retired 31-year-old told The Bridge podcast. “And I said to myself, I want to experience something else. For me, England, and Manchester in particular, is where you feel the passion for football, you feel it, you live it every day. Now that some time has passed, I have no regrets because it was an incredible experience.”
Varane may have no regrets, but he hasn’t been slow to condemn United’s muddled hierarchy and Erik ten Hag’s failed “fear” tactics.
Intriguingly, the first steps Varane took towards a Real Madrid departure came three years before he finally left the Spanish giants. “It was a long process,” he explained. “It’s not like you wake up in the morning and say I want to leave. In 2018, I won everything; in fact, we quickly celebrated our fourth Champions League. It was like a normal thing, the next step is to win the Champions League and think about the next one.
“Then I won the World Cup and I said to myself, I’ve done everything. There came a time in my life where I restructured myself, reviewed some things regarding the management of my career, and said to myself, I need to keep feeling emotions, I need something different.”
