Manchester United new signing, Raphael Varane, snubbed last-minute approaches from both Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain after speaking with the club’s technical director, Darren Fletcher, ESPN reports.
Man United agreed to a fee worth around £40million for Varane, who said his goodbyes to his Real Madrid teammates on Friday.
Chelsea and PSG were invited to bid for Varane by Real Madrid before Man United struck a deal with Los Blancos for the Frenchman.
Chelsea boss, Thomas Tuchel, is keen to sign a new defender with talks for Jules Kounde advancing and would have jumped at the chance to bring the World Cup winner to Stamford Bridge, while a move to PSG would have seen Varane reunited with Sergio Ramos.
But the Red Devils’ early conversations with Varane were so encouraging that the centre-back outright snubbed Chelsea and PSG’s interest, insisting he only wanted to move to Old Trafford.
The biggest contributor to the success of the talks was Fletcher, with the newspaper claiming Varane was ‘particularly swayed’ by what the Scot had to say about Man United.
Fletcher, who was recently appointed by Man United in March, led talks with Varane’s representatives, while the club’s CEO, Ed Woodward, was responsible for agreeing a fee with Real Madrid.
