Varane Raphael discloses At the age of 18, Sir Alex Ferguson came to his house to sign him

SIR ALEX FERGUSON allegedly showed up at the home of a young Raphael Varane to persuade him to join Manchester United.

And the then-18-year-old was’very, very intrigued’ in making the switch from boyhood club Lens to Old Trafford.

However, a phone call from the legendary Zinedine Zidane quickly changed things, with the France star persuading him that Real Madrid was his best option.

“It was a shock,” Varane said of Ferguson’s visit to the Telegraph. To be honest, I was sitting in my house, staring out the window, waiting for him to arrive.

“I didn’t speak English when he arrived.” My mother speaks wonderful English, thus she was the one who conversed with him the most.

“We talked about how he saw me, how he could work with me on a project, and how he could help me develop as a person and athlete.”

“It was fascinating and a life-changing experience for me.”

Varane eventually chose Madrid over United, but in a £41 million signing this summer, he returned to Old Trafford.

Things could have turned out very differently if the celebrated centre-back had continued to reject Zidane’s calls, as he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“Zizou called me, and the transfer accelerated extremely swiftly,” he explained. I traveled to Madrid, spoke with (Jose) Mourinho, returned to France, and took the Baccalaureate exam the day after seeing Mourinho.

“It was a bizarre time in my life.” I was playing for Lens’ first team when the club realized I needed to be sold. As a result, a large number of agents contacted me.

“I was exhausted because there were so many things to do and consider.”

“I was pretty busy when Zizou initially called, and I didn’t realize it was him at first.”

“I was taken aback when I recognized him. I thought it was strange, so I asked him about it.