Raphaël Varane ‘seriously’ contemplating summer transfer request — report

Chelsea have been linked with a wide variety of center backs in recent months, and while Raphaël Varane hasn’t been one of the names most commonly mentioned, we’re still said to be monitoring his situation and would certainly at least explore the possibility of signing him should he become available.

And if the latest rumblings out of Spain are to be believed — ed.note: as ever, that’s a sizable “if” — Varane is in fact “seriously” considering his future at Real Madrid, and might even go as far as to request a transfer after a trophy-laden decade in the Spanish capital. He will have just one year left on his current deal after the season, and looks no closer to signing an extension.

Varane’s decision will supposedly not be driven by money, but rather the prospect of a new challenge. At just over a month shy of his 28th birthday, he knows that this next contract will be perhaps the last big one he gets to sign in his career.

Real are apparently looking at the likes of Jules Koundé and Chelsea-linked Pau Torres as potential replacements, while Chelsea themselves continue to be linked with the likes of Niklas Süle, Ibrahima Konaté, and José María Giménez.