Manchester United centre-back Raphael Varane has admitted that he expects to finish his playing career at one of three clubs.
The experienced Frenchman, who retired from international football earlier this year, joined United from Spanish heavyweights Real Madrid in August 2021. After an injury-hit maiden season at Old Trafford, Varane has played a key role in manager Erik ten Hag's debut campaign in charge this term, racking up 27 appearances in all competitions.
He has formed a solid centre-back partnership with summer recruit Lisandro Martinez, with the pair of them acting as the bedrock to United's improvements this season. With their respective qualities, they have formed a partnership so impressive that it could be Ten Hag's first-choice central-defensive pairing for several years to come.
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However, although Varane only turns 30 next month, he has already hinted that he could retire elsewhere, pointing to his two former clubs. Ahead of joining Madrid in June 2011, the defender spent almost a decade on the books of French club Lens, rising through the youth ranks before graduating to the first team in 2010.
"I will finish my career either in Madrid, or in Manchester, or in Lens," Varane told GQ Magazine. "I will not move to another club [other than those].
"But Madrid seems complicated to me. Players don't usually go back there.
"The most likely outcome today is that I will finish [my career] in either Manchester or Lens."
Despite only being 29, Varane, who has won just about everything that the game has to offer, made the decision to retire from playing for the French national team at the beginning of February, less than two months after they had lost the World Cup final to Argentina in Qatar. It was because of an increasingly demanding schedule for both club and country that forced him to step aside from playing for his nation.
Varane added: "The calendar is already more than full, the players are overworked and it will get even worse. I'm afraid that we will witness much shorter careers and that players will have to give up the France team very early because, physically or mentally, what we are asking for today is simply beyond limits.
"The fact that I announced the end of my international career and not having hidden the reasons, that resonated with many players.
"Believe me, all the international players who play in Europe and never stop go through periods of poor form lasting several months, or they get injured. The young players who start in the France team there, those who have played in the World Cup, are going to have to make a lot of sacrifices if they want to stay on top for 10 years. And it might be harder than what I've experienced."
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