Per Jason Burt in the Telegraph, United have not given up hope of signing Bale, but Varane does look to be a more realistic target from Real Madrid. The Madrid chief said, “We know that United showed interest in Bale, Benzema and Varane.”

The Old Trafford club’s pursuit of Sergio Ramos earlier this summer was widely reported, with the defender ultimately choosing to stay at the Santiago Bernabeu and extend his contract. He was never close to doing so.

Varane has been linked with United since he was a highly-rated prospect at Lens, but Zinedine Zidane’s presence at Madrid helped the club beat their Champions League rivals to his signing in 2011.

Florentino Perez has reportedly claimed that Manchester United were interested in a stunning summer swoop for Real Madrid trio Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Raphael Varane, according to the Metro.

‘Those who want to do harm to Real Madrid meddle but nothing really happened, nothing more than happens every summer’.

The freakish situation regarding David de Gea has seen the European heavyweights criticise each other (via Daily Mail), making it seem somewhat unlikely that Los Blancos will be happy to allow any of the three to move to Old Trafford. And it happened with Ander Herrera and Athletic Bilbao.

Further, talking about the De Gea deal he stated, “I think what they lack is experience”.

The 26-year-old forward has led his national team in the European Qualifiers with six goals in seven games to leave them three points away from their first major tournament since 1958 – meaning a victory against Israel on Sunday would be enough for them.