Raphael Varane reportedly met with Carlo Ancelotti for showdown talks about his Real Madrid future as he reported for pre-season on Friday.
The French defender turned up at Madrid's training camp at Valdebebas following his participation at Euro 2020 as he pushes for a move to Manchester United.
Varane has agreed personal terms with the Old Trafford club with United offering him 'astronomical' wages, but the clubs are still to reach an agreement over a transfer fee.
Madrid value the centre-half around £60m, but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men are some way off meeting their demands with an initial offer of £40m.
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But despite his future still hanging in his balance, it was back to business as he joined up with his teammates as they prepare for the upcoming season.
And upon his arrival, he met with new boss Ancelotti to discuss his future at the club.
It's claimed by AS that Varane, who has one year left on his current deal, was hoping the Italian boss would help convince the Madrid hierarchy to offer him an improved contract extension, closer to the terms that United have tabled, suggesting he has not ruled out staying in Spain.
But that is not how the meeting materialised whatsoever as the former Everton manager backed his employer's stance that they are not going to up their initial offer.
Varane now feels awkward about the position he is in as he returns to Madrid with all this speculation in the background as he expected his future to be resolved by now.
United believes he is the perfect candidate to partner Harry Maguire in defence and it's not the first time they have tried to sign him either.
The Red Devils made an offer in 2011 when he played for Lens as Sir Alex Ferguson personally tried to push the deal over the line by travelling down to France for talks.
But the allure of Real Madrid was too attractive to pass up as he opted to join the La Liga giants instead.
Ferguson wrote in his 2015 book Leading: "I hurtled down on the train from Euston to Lille to sign the young French defender Raphael Varane.
“David Gill was getting into the finer points of the contract with Lens when Zinedine Zidane got wind of this and somehow scooped him up for Real Madrid from under our noses.”
