Chelsea board make shock request to sign Man Utd star

Carlo Garganese

• 21 Nov 2023 15:30 GMT
• 3 min read

A Chelsea board member has urged owner Todd Boehly to make a shock move for Raphael Varane.

That is according to Chelsea transfer expert Simon Phillips, who has inside knowledge of the ins and outs at Stamford Bridge boardroom level.

Phillips reports that at an unnamed board member high up at Chelsea has been trying to convince Boehly to sign Varane from Man Utd.

The journalist adds, though, that he believes this a deal that is unlikely to come off.

Chelsea are well stacked at centre back, even if their defence has continued to be leaky this season.

Will Varane leave Man Utd in 2024?

Varane is weighing up his future heading into 2024 after losing his first-team place at Man Utd.

The Daily Telegraph has reported recently that there is a “strained relationship” between Varane and manager Erik ten Hag after the Dutchman dropped the centre back.

Varane has not started any of Man Utd’s last three matches, with the Frenchman losing his first-team spot and Harry Maguire returning to the starting side.

Ten Hag has rejected these reports of a fall-out: “Absolutely not. As I said, it is about tactical reasons why I chose these partnerships. I think Harry [Maguire] and Jonny [Evans] did well,” Ten Hag said.

“What I said last year, Harry [Maguire] didn’t play a lot, so I was very happy with Rapha [Varane]’s performances. I have always been happy with his performance. But in this moment, Harry is playing very well and there is internal competition.”

Ten Hag has suggest that Varane and Maguire are not an ideal partnership.

“There are moments in certain games where they [Maguire and Varane] can play together and they have already proven they can do it,” he said.

“But the build-up is not that fluid when one of them is playing from the left centre-back position,” explained Ten Hag.

This would suggest that Ten Hag will pick either Maguire or Varane going forward, and not both.

Despite this, a move to Chelsea seems off the table. Varane has also been linked to Bayern Munich in recent days.