Manchester United hope to sign centre-back Raphael Varane as quickly as possible.
The path is made easier by United reportedly pretty much agreeing personal terms with the France international, claimed by the MEN as far back as last week.
Gone are the days where ‘tapping up’ is an issue which could get reported to the football authorities. The so-called offence is pretty much ignored by all these days.
What United could have done, however, was kill off the chances of a successful negotiation with Real Madrid by going behind their backs. With a maverick and outspoken club president like Florentino Perez, Real could quite easily have refused to deal with United if they were put out.
Real gave United their blessing
In this case the convention breaking approach of ‘personal terms ahead of fee’ was approved by Real themselves.
Spanish newspaper AS report that selling to raise money is such a ‘necessity’ at Real Madrid that they gave United permission to discuss personal terms with Varane.
The report says United made an informal approach for the player through an intermediary one month ago and Real decided to let Varane explore his options.
While if Varane was totally set on signing a new deal, Real would have kept him, they understand his desire to move on, and quite possibly get a better contract at United, and made the decision to explore a sale.
It’s not done yet. Far from it. But it seems like Varane is leaving and United are clear front runners.
Forget silly talk of other Premier League teams getting involved. This is United’s deal to do, and the next steps could happen fast.
We all know United like to drag deals out though. See the Sancho deal which has been ongoing for a year and is still not formally concluded. At this rate though, Varane could be announced first.
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