New Delhi: Former Real Madrid and Manchester United defender Raphaël Varane has announced his retirement from the beautiful game just at the age of 31. Varane was one of the best defenders in the world during his peak and was regularly in the conversation of being the undisputed best defender during his time at Real Madrid. The Frenchman’s legendary career came to a cruel end after injuries disrupted his last hurrah.
After leaving English giants Manchester United this summer, Varane made an extremely intriguing switch to newly promoted Serie A side Como. He was the marquee signing for the club who were making their first appearance back in the Italian top-flight in over 20 years. Como head coach and minority owner, Cesc Fàbregas was instrumental in getting Varane to the club but things didn’t work out in their favour.
During his distinguished 14-year club career, Varane played across four major footballing nations and won numerous trophies. Despite suffering through major injuries towards the latter end of his career, he was still seen as a force to be reckoned with. Let’s dive in to take a trip down memory lane and see how the glorious career of Raphaël Varane played out.
RC Lens’ Crown Jewel
🇫🇷🌟 | From Lens to the world, the story ends today
𝐑𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐚̈𝐞𝐥 𝐕𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐞 was the best talent that ever came from @RCLens youth academy.
Football Legend 🌎 pic.twitter.com/VMHejpG4mV
— Rising Stars XI (@RisingStarXI) September 25, 2024
When a young Varane was making the strides up through Lens’ academy, he drew a lot of interest from clubs worldwide. He was seen as the next big defender to come out of France and the best ever player to come out of the RC Lens academy. Such was his talent that when he made his debut for the club aged just 17, he was thrusted straight into the starting lineup, following a injury crisis at Lens.
He went on to play the entire 90 minutes on his debut, a rarity for a player of his age and helped the club to only their third clean sheet of the season. In just a handful of appearances during the 2010-11 season, Varane started attracting interest from across Europe. He captained the club in their final home game of the season before they headed back down to Ligue 2 and Varane headed out to arguably the biggest club in the world, Real Madrid.
Thirteen Trophy Laden Years
Things changed for the young defender after sealing a move to Real Madrid. It took him a little while to establish himself in a Real Madrid squad filled with Galacticos. He would only make 15 appearances throughout the season under Jose Mourinho, including nine in the league but that was enough for him to win his first silverware as a player, as ‘The Special One’ guided Los Blancos to the La Liga title.
Following on from that season, Varane established himself as a regular starter for the club and his appearances increased as well. During the 2012-13 season, his appearances for the club doubled but an injury that he suffered towards the end of the season, affected the entire 2013-14 campaign where he couldn’t match his numbers from the previous season but ended the season as a UEFA Champions League winner, playing a part in Real Madrid’s iconic La Decima.
Raphaël Varane began his senior career at Lens playing at 17.
14 years later, he bowed out with an FA Cup trophy to secure his 22nd title in football.
He retires as one of the most decorated and talented defenders the game has ever seen.
A true legend 👏❤️ pic.twitter.com/2lMOOdkqKj
— B/R Football (@brfootball) September 25, 2024
After that triumph, he became an undisputed starter for Real Madrid and remained one throughout his career at the club till 2021. He was an integral member of a lot of trophy winning squads for Madrid, including being the main man during Real Madrid’s ‘three-peat’ of the UEFA Champions League under Zinedine Zidane. His trophy laden spell in Madrid yielded a total of 18 trophies for the Frenchman. In addition to his three La Liga titles and four UEFA Champions League titles, he also won one Copa Del Rey, three Supercopa de España, three UEFA Super Cup and four FIFA Club World Cup.
After spending ten years in the Spanish capital, Varane moved base to Manchester and joined Manchester United. He had a short and sweet stint at United but injury problems saw him lose the form he showed at Madrid. He would make 95 appearances in his three years at the club but despite being riddled by injuries, fans got to witness some moments of brilliance from the Frenchman. He tenure in England yielded two more trophies as he won the 2022/23 EFL Cup and the 2023/24 FA Cup to end his club career with 20 trophies to his name.
What’s next for Raphaël Varane?
The defender had signed a contract at Como till 2026 but the contract will be terminated after just a solitary appearance for the club following the announcement of his retirement. In his retirement post on Instagram, the former defender mentioned that he will remain with the Italian club in a off-field role, which he will reveal soon.
Varane is an extremely talented and experienced player, who has achieved everything in football, so having him stay at the club in any capacity is a good thing for them. Head coach Cesc Fàbregas currently has only one assistant manager under him and he can make use of Varane’s reading of the game to improve his squad and it would also give Varane an opportunity to help out the club despite his retirement.
The World Cup winner called time on his glorious 14-year career earlier today. Let’s dive in to take a trip down memory lane and see how the glorious career of Raphaël Varane played out. Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
