Before he strode onto the Old Trafford pitch in his navy two-piece on the opening day of last season, Raphael Varane had prepared for the demands of a Manchester United defender.
Varane requested clips of United's infamous set-piece defending from the previous season while he was in the France camp during the European Championship. After a galling first season, Varane has helped United record the most clean sheets in the Premier League in his second season.
Varane's move to United was a long time coming - a decade on from Sir Alex Ferguson's vain visit to the teenager's home in Lens. The August 2021 transfer was delayed by quarantining and then an issue flagged during the medical; serious enough it was not beyond the realms of possibility the deal could have collapsed.
