Raphael Varane sees Lisandro Martinez move to Manchester United as a big boost for the club

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Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez became the club’s third signing of the summer when he clinched a £46 million move from Ajax.

Martinez is United’s ninth most expensive signing of all time and comes just a year after United spent £34 million on signing Raphael Varane from Real Madrid.

The arrival of the Argentine international is a challenge for Varane, who has struggled with his fitness, and the Frenchman will also compete for a place with club captain Harry Maguire, Eric Bailly and Victor Lindelof to try and earn a place alongside the new signing.

Varane sees the development as a positive rather than a negative, looking at the signing from a team perspective rather than focusing on what it means for him as an individual.

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Martinez move to Manchester United a big boost for the club

Speaking to BBC Sport, Varane explained: “Competition is good for the team. Harry is a very important player for us. He’s the captain and obviously he has a lot of good qualities.

“The team will always be better with this competition. Every great club is like this. If everyone wants to fight for the team, that’s a good thing.”

Varane knows all about competition. He signed for Real Madrid and had to fight his way into the team and break up the partnership between Pepe and Sergio Ramos.

United will have a lot of games to play before the World Cup, with Premier League, Carabao Cup and Europa League matches ahead. Varane would not hold up to playing twice-weekly and squad rotation is going to be key for the team to be competitive.

Varane was pictured back in training for United on Thursday ahead of the club’s final pre-season game in Australia. He had missed the last two matches.

Varane dodges matter of Ronaldo’s future

When quizzed about Cristiano Ronaldo, Varane chose not to speak of the future, concentrating on the present and his past experience playing with the United star.

Varane said: “We know his quality. And we know he’s very famous. So we know a lot of people will speak about the performance of the team and his performance.

“Cristiano is a great competitor. He’s a legend and he always helps the team, so obviously it’s very good to play with him.”