Real Madrid Star Raphael Varane is a Manchester United Target

Manchester United's defensive woes were on full diplay at Upton Park last night when they blew a 1 goal lead with 18 minutes left on the clock to lose 3-2 to West Ham United and much of the blame had to lie with the poor defensive organisation of the central defenders, especially Daley Blind. However, it is also important to point out that Blind is a midfielder who has played as a makeshift central defender for a majority of the season and United are now frantically scouting for a long term defensive partner for Chris Smalling. The decline of Phil Jones as a reliable central defender has also been a problem for the United manager Louis van Gaal and now the club are determined to bring in a truly world class defender to Old Trafford so that they do not suffer from any more embarrassing defensive slips.

According to reports published by The Daily Mirror, the club have identified Real Madrid's 23 year old French central defender Raphael Varane as the ideal addition in their team and have prepared a £25 million bid for the player. It is interesting to note that during the time of Sir Alex Ferguson, the player was a target for United but instead the club decided to go with Phil Jonse, while Varane was snapped up by Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid in 2011.

Varane is regarded as one of most gifted young central defenders in the game, whose game awareness, the ability to read the game, aerial presence and high quality distribution from deep, has made him a regular in the French national team. However, he has not been able to nail a spot in the Real Madrid starting eleven ahead of the club captain Sergio Ramos and Pepe, which is why it must be said that he could be tempted to make a move that would guarantee him first team football in one of the biggest clubs in the world. Varane still has at least a decade of top level football left in him and United would certainly want a long term solution to their defensive woes.