raphael varane
He snubbed Manchester United previously and chose Real Madrid. After achieving new heights at the Spanish club, Varane may want to add Premier League experience to his CV and some strength to the United defense. Reuters

Chelsea are reported to be closely monitoring Raphael Varane's situation at Real Madrid, as the young centre-back has been known to to have been unhappy with the lack of first-team opportunities under the reign Carlo Ancelloti.

The 21-year-old French international was at the heart of his national side's defence during the recently concluded World Cup, managing to keep three clean sheets in five matches, while conceding only three goals, which includes the decider that had them booted out in the 1-nil loss against Germany in the quarter-finals.

Blues boss Jose Mourinho brought the promising talent from Ligue 1 outfit RC Lens to the Bernabeu in 2011 when he was still in charge of the Los Blancos, as well as giving Varane his big break, most notably, in the Champions League during the 2012/13 season at the expense of Madrid veteran Pepe.

It is believed that the Portuguese mentor will be using a part of £50million profit from the sale of David Luiz to Paris Saint-Germain to lure officials from the capital-based club to hand over the £21million-rated player.

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