Louis Saha believes Raphael Varane would be a perfect signing for Manchester United due to his qualities as a one-vs-one defender.
MEN Sport revealed last month that Real Madrid are prepared to sell Varane to United this summer in order to obtain a fee for the defender, who is out contract in 2022. Varane is valued at around £60million.
Pau Torres is also a transfer target and would be interested in a move to the club, as is Brighton & Hove Albion defender Ben White.
Real Madrid have promised the club captaincy to Varane with their contract offer but the Frenchman is unhappy as he believes there is a disparity between his salary offer and what his best-paid teammates are earning.
Saha believes Varane's recovery pace and prowess in insolated defensive situations would allow United to field fewer defensive-minded midfielder to protect the defence and allow them to be more aggressive in transition.
"I think when you are attacking, the way United are. Sometimes counter-attacking, sometimes with lots of numbers in the box – so Pogba, McTominay, Fred – just bombard, you need good defenders," Saha told GentingBet.
"You need quick full backs that are able to come back and help the two central defenders. If the central defenders aren’t super strong in 1 on 1 they can need help and improvements.
"They need that kind of challenge to improve domination in games. Those kind of players can bring that. Varane for example is an incredibly experienced player having won the World Cup and Champions League.
"At the same time, his great quality is his speed. He’s very, very fast and he can hold any striker that comes at him. So any defenders with the same kind of profile will be interesting.
"It doesn’t mean that it’s the only weakness that we need to address, it’s more about spirit and how we can finish actions that we are creating.
"There are two types of defending, you can defend by attacking really well, and defend because you’re afraid of your opponent and you find a tactic to protect your defenders. When you do that you are on the wrong path for United."
