ALL ABOUT - Raphael Varane: Ten things you maybe don't know

These are ten things about Raphael Varane you may not know about him. From his personal life to his life on the pitch, there is more than meets the eye than what we see every week.  

1. He has a connection to Martinique, as his father is originally from the island.

2. His first sport was rugby, not football. He didn’t begin playing the sport until later after he fell in love with the beautiful game.

3. Bayern refused to sign him as a teenager for just 5M Euros because they thought the price tag was too high.

4. Third time is the charm: before their successful attempt this summer, Manchester had tried and failed to sign him twice before, in 2011 and 2013.

5. He was the youngest captain of the French national team ever in an international match, when he captained les Bleus while just 21 against Armenia.

6. He became the youngest ever to win the Champions League three times at 24 years of age in 2017. He beat Paolo Maldini’s record that had stood since 1994 when the legendary AC Milan captain was 25.

7. In 2018 he became a knight of the Legion of Honor, the highest order of merit that can be awarded to a French national.

8. He’s the main subject of a documentary produced by retail giants Amazon, called Raphael Varane: Destin du Champion.

9. He married his girlfriend, Camille Tytgat, whom he met while in high school in France.

10. His house was robbed while he was playing a Champions League match for Real Madrid against Borussia Dortmund in December 2016. The alarm was not set off because he had forgotten to engage it when leaving the house.