Liverpool have a big advantage in the race for Real Madrid centre-back – but it could cost them a forward
Liverpool could sign Raphael Varane from Real Madrid this summer, but only if they allow Sadio Mané to move in the opposite direction.
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L’Equipe revealed on Monday that Varane is considering a shock exit from the Santiago Bernabeu after eight trophy-laden years at the club.
Madrid are set to embark on a squad overhaul this summer, with returning manager Zinedine Zidane promised a transfer kitty of at least £300m.
According to France Football, Zidane has made Mané – who has scored 17 goals in the Premier League this season – one of his leading transfer targets as he seeks to bolster his attacking options.
And according to reports in the Guardian, Madrid could attempt to use Varane as a makeweight in a deal for the Senegalese, who joined Liverpool from Southampton for £34m in 2016.
The French centre-back is said to prefer Manchester United to Liverpool, though, which could scupper the Reds’ hopes of bringing him to Anfield.
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Greg Lea is a freelance football journalist who's filled in wherever FourFourTwo needs him since 2014. He became a Crystal Palace fan after watching a 1-0 loss to Port Vale in 1998, and once got on the scoresheet in a primary school game against Wilfried Zaha's Whitehorse Manor (an own goal in an 8-0 defeat).
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