Chelsea and manager Jose Mourinho have been long term admirers of quite a few players and one of them is Real Madrid youngster Raphael Varane. Mourinho coached the French Central defender during his time in Madrid and got him to perform well in the first team. As there are various rumours floating the media about Chelsea being quoted a price for Varane, we etch out the three main reasons why Mourinho should bring his old player to Chelsea.
He’s young and talented.
Raphael Varane is only 21 years old and has already been part of a Champions League winning team. He has been in the top tier of football for three seasons now and has enough experience to start games for Chelsea. The talent and the potential he brings with him is enormous and he can fill in the position John Terry occupied for a long time which makes him such a legend for the Blues.
An year or so under Terry would also help him mature as a defensive wall and make him better than what he already is. Chelsea is the hub for good defensive players and have a great reputation of maintaining their defence. Someone like Varane can only get better with age and experience at Chelsea and help the Blues strengthen their squad immensely.
He is the type of defender that Chelsea and Mourinho need.
Varane has great pace for a Central defender and has quality on the ball to help build attacks from the back with ease. He is accustomed to pressing higher up the field and winning the ball on the front foot to create offensive moves. Plus he is not a reckless tackler like his counterpart Mangala, who was bought by Manchester City. Varane is a calculative defender and plans his defensive actions. Mourinho likes such type of players and within some time he could replicate John Terry with a fresher pair of legs.
He is also French, which obviously indicates to the future as Chelsea themselves have a bright young French Center Back in Zouma. Varane and Zouma would make a strong and well oiled defensive duo for the Blues with more togetherness at the back. As we all know, Chelsea have been a good offensive team this season but have succumbed to some defensive errors as they are exposed at the back due to the defence lacking pace in the center. Varane would solve that as Mourinho would get a good player to replace John Terry time and again.
He can be priced away.
Varane is definitely not too happy sitting on the Real Madrid bench watching the much older Pepe still dictate the center back duo with Ramos. Well, it is not exactly Ancelotti’s fault to bench Varane for Pepe, because Pepe and Ramos offer a very experienced duo at the back. The young Frenchman has thus started only 5 games in La Liga and has played more regularly in the Champions League against mediocre teams by starting 5 out of the 6 games. He is likely to not get more playing time this season and remain a bit part player.
A good offer for the player would be hard to refuse and Varane may well be tempted to move to Chelsea, who are currently League Leaders in England with a great chance to win silverware from more than one competition. There won’t be many moments in the future when a quality young player (who if plays regularly, can prove himself to be world class) will be actually available for a transfer whatsoever the cost (reportedly about £20m) as any manager would soon start to make him a regular in his team. This is the moment when the iron is hot, and Mourinho should strike.