Former Liverpool defender Glen Johnson has explained why he would have preferred his old club to have signed Raphael Varane over Ibrahima Konate.
Manchester United confirmed on Tuesday evening that they have reached an agreement with Real Madrid to sign the defender.
It has been widely reported that the two clubs have agreed an initial fee of £34m, which could rise to £42m in the future.
The 28-year-old is also believed to have agreed terms on a four-year contract with the option for another 12 months.
The signing is set to be United’s second marquee capture of the summer after they secured the services of Jadon Sancho last week.
Liverpool triggered Konate's release clause of around £36million to make him the second most-expensive defender in the club's history after Virgil van Dijk earlier this month.
But when asked to compare the two, Johnson praised Varane and admits he would be surprised if Konate is better than the World Cup winner.
“If you ranked Varane in the Premier League he would be one of the best centre-halves for sure,” he told bettingodds.com when asked about the transfer.
“He’s been at the top for a long time, and he’s still young. Aaron Wan-Bissaka is a great defender. He’s not good going forward or great on the ball, but he’s a fantastic defender.
“Luke Shaw, if he keeps fit, is, again, a fantastic player, though I don’t know whether he can do it for the whole season.
“Obviously he had an unbelievable season, and at the Euros he was brilliant, but I’m not sure he could perform like that for the whole season.
“Maguire has his ups and downs. But Varane is like a rock, he’s a proper player. He doesn’t really want to play football, he just defends and gives the closest player the ball, which is what I want to see.”
Johnson then continued when asked if Varane was the better signing, by saying: “Yes. Mainly because I haven’t seen Konate play too much to be honest and don’t know too much about him.
“But if Konate is as good or better than Varane I’d be surprised.”
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