SIR ALEX FERGUSON once pitched up at a young Raphael Varane’s house to convince him to sign for Manchester United.
And the then-18-year-old was ‘very, very interested’ in making the move to Old Trafford from boyhood club Lens.
But a phone call from the great Zinedine Zidane soon changed that, with the France legend convincing him Real Madrid should be his preferred destination.
Varane told the Telegraph about Ferguson’s visit: “It was a shock. To be honest, I was waiting in my house and looking out of the window to see if he was really coming.
“When he came, I didn’t speak English. My mum speaks perfect English, so she was the person who spoke more with him.
“It was a discussion about how he saw me, how he could have a project with me and how he could help me to grow as a person and player.
“It was very, very interesting and a very big experience for me.”
Varane eventually signed for Madrid rather than United – but then moved to Old Trafford in a £41million deal this summer.
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And things could have been very different if the decorated centre-back had continued to ignore Zidane’s calls – because he couldn’t believe what was happening to him.
He said: “Zizou called me and the transfer accelerated very quickly. I went to Madrid, I spoke with (Jose) Mourinho, I went back to France and then I took the Baccalaureate exam the day after I saw Mourinho.
“It was a crazy moment of my life. I was playing with the first team at Lens and the club knew I had to be sold. So a lot of agents called me.
“I was very tired because there were a lot of things to do and to think about.
“So when Zizou first called me, I was really busy and I didn’t know it was him at the beginning.
“When I recognised him, I was in shock. It was crazy, so I asked him to call me back!”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
