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If you gave Jose Mourinho a blank cheque to sign any player in world football right now, who would it be? Eden Hazard? Neymar? Kylian Mbappe?

You would not put it past Mourinho snubbing the lot of them. Even though he has a host of defenders at his disposal, the United boss remains keen on signing a quality centre-back this summer - so much so that United have delayed plans to sign a left-back.

That seems an odd decision given how Mourinho has already bought a centre-back in each of his first two summer transfer windows at Old Trafford. Also, United require overdue investment at left-back; it is four years since Luke Shaw came through the door.

But one name is top of Mourinho's fantasy list: Raphael Varane. For as long as he is a professional footballer, the 25-year-old will be on United's radar but it would take something extraordinary to convince him to leave Real Madrid. Even United know that.

Before his World Cup heroics, one high-level source at United remarked that some of those defenders under consideration this summer are 'not possible and real'. Varane certainly falls into that category.

Fresh from winning both the Champions League and the World Cup, and establishing himself as a leader for club and country, Varane will surely be on the podium for the Ballon d'Or in December.

The last defender to be awarded the honour, itself, was Fabio Cannavaro, who also played for Madrid, in 2006. Even if it does not happen for Varane this year, you would think he has the best chance of one day following in the Italian's footsteps.

The speed, physique, composure, intelligence, maturity...whatever a top-class defender needs, Varane has it in abudance.

For all the great 'what ifs?' in Sir Alex Ferguson's 26 years at United - Ronaldo, Alan Shearer, Paolo Maldini, Paui Gascoigne and Ronaldinho all spring to mind - Varane is right up there.

The Scot recalls 'hurtling' on a train from Euston to Lille in 2011 only to find that Zinedine Zidane, then working as a club ambassador for Real Madrid, had got to the Lens defender first. Not even Paul Pogba, who played alongside Varane for France's under-19s, could win him round.

And who was Real Madrid's manager at the time? A certain Mr. Mourinho. The manager remarked that the boyhood United fan had 'one foot in Manchester' before Madrid's charm offensive took hold.

Zidane had been persisent. Varane famously hung up on him while studying in his mother's house in Hellemmes before the youngster was then whisked to Madrid's training base to meet his idol.

Mourinho vowed that Varane would start off life at Madrid as his third-choice centre-back and publicly declared that the teenager would go on to be an even better player than Laurent Blanc, who he worked with at Barcelona.

With United signing Phil Jones, after they realised the game was up, it proved a decisive intervention.

"Manchester United? They had just signed Phil Jones in my position," Varane later recalled.

"My first reaction when Real wanted to sign me was not, 'Of course I will go'. I only made my decision when I knew that the coach wanted me to play in the first team."

It was a decision that is still being felt at United today as they try and, somehow, find the next Varane.

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