Former £42m Manchester United star reveals Jose Mourinho called him ‘useless
Former Manchester United defender Raphael Varane has reveale that Jose Mourinho called him ‘useless’ during their time together at Real Madrid.
Varane made the £10 million move from Lens to Madrid คาสิโนออนไลน์ UFABET ฝากถอนรวดเร็ว เริ่มต้นเล่นง่าย in the summer of 2011 where he linke up with Mourinho, who was about to embark on his second season at the Bernabeu having won the Copa del Rey in his debut campaign.
The French defender made 15 appearances in his first season at Madrid and was regarde as the third-choice central defender behind Pepe and Sergio Ramos.
But ahead of his second season in the Spanish capital, Varane says he receive some tough love from Mourinho in order to become an establishe first-team player
‘When I arrive, he told me: ‘I only want one thing, that for an hour and a half every day, you give everything. The rest, don’t worry, you’ll progress, I’ll take care of it, relax’,’ Varane told.
‘The first season, I must have playe fifteen matches in total, but I playe the matches where we had already qualifie, the cup matches. He made me progress little by little and didn’t throw me in at the deep end right away.
‘I had a good first season but now more was expecte of me. So I overplaye a bit and I wasn’t comfortable, I wasn’t feeling well.
‘And one day, at the start of the season, he calle me, even though the team’s start to the season wasn’t great. I remember it well, it was in the gym, he calle me over.
‘He’s someone I really respect, he’s charismatic, and he said to me straight out… ‘but why are you useless?’.
‘I looked at him like [stunned] because he had actually just stung me. I looked at him and said that it wasn’t easy because I wasn’t playing and that it was a complicate start to the season.
‘He had nagge me then and then he aske me if I was ready to play the following Wednesday.’
Varane, who won 18 trophies during his 10 seasons at Madrid before his £42m move to Manchester United in 2021, went on to suggest that his career at the Bernabeu would’ve ‘dead’ if he faile to step up under Mourinho.
‘It was a bit of a bluff, I said ‘yes’ even though I wasn’t ready,’ Varane adde.
‘I wasn’t physically ready, mentally I wasn’t confident but I said yes, I was ready and that was it.
‘He told me, ‘okay’ and he left. In training, I gave it my all and the next day, the day before the match, I saw that I was in the team and Sergio Ramos was on the bench.
‘I was 19 years old and I told myself that I was in Spain at 19 and not well while there I was starting in the Champions League, if I messe up it was over and it was dead.
‘Everything that was going to happen after that no longer existe, I would have sent out on loan.’