Raphaël Varane (French pronunciation: ​[vaʁan]; born 25 April 1993) is a French footballer who plays for Spanish club Real Madrid and the French national team, as a central defender.[2] He previously played for French club Lens and, ahead of the 2010–11 season, began training with the senior team and appeared on the bench in several league matches. On 7 November 2010, Varane made his professional debut in a league match against Montpellier.[3] Varane has been described by Lens youth coach Eric Assadourian as a "truly first class player" who is "comfortable on both the tactical and technical level".[4] In January 2014, he was named by The Guardian as one of the ten most promising young players in Europe.[5] Varane was a France youth international, having earned caps at under-18, under-20 and under-21 level. He made his full international debut in March 2013 and represented the country at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Varane was born in the city of Lille in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region. He is of Martiniquais heritage through his father, Gaston, who is originally from Le Morne-Rouge, while his French mother, Annie, was raised in Saint-Amand-les-Eaux.[6] Varane began his football career in the Arrondissement of Lille playing for local club AS Hellemmes at the age of seven.[7] After spending two years at the club, in July 2002, he joined professional club RC Lens, despite some interest from Derby du Nord rivals and hometown club Lille OSC.[8] Similar to the development of the club's previous prized assets such as Gaël Kakuta and Timothée Kolodziejczak, Varane spent time at the Centre de Préformation de Football in nearby Liévin, a training center exclusively for players brought up in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region.[6] He spent two years at the center training there during the weekdays and playing with Lens on the weekends. After returning full-time to Lens, Varane quickly ascended up the club's youth ranks. In the 2008–09 season, alongside teammates Thorgan Hazard and Geoffrey Kondogbia, he played on the club's under-16 team that won the Championnat National des 16 ans. In the following season, Varane was promoted to the club's under-19 team, despite being two years younger than several of his teammates. Ahead of the 2010–11 season, Varane signed his first professional contract.[9] He was, subsequently, promoted to the club's reserve team in the Championnat de France amateur.[10] Varane made his amateur debut in the club's opening league match of the campaign in a 2–0 victory over Drancy.[11] He appeared as a starter in the club's next nine matches with the team losing only one of them. Lens[edit] In late October of the campaign, Varane was called up to the senior team by manager Jean-Guy Wallemme to train ahead of the club's match against Montpellier on 6 November. He trained with the team for the entire week and, due to an injury to centre back Alaeddine Yahia, Varane was, surprisingly, named to the starting lineup.[12] In the match, he played the full 90 minutes in a 2–0 victory.[3] The victory was only the club's third clean sheet of the season. Varane was praised by teammates, most notably captain Adil Hermach, defending partner Eric Chelle, and striker David Pollet, as well as by the local media and coach Wallemme.[13][14] In the next two matches, Varane, alongside several other youth players, sat on the bench as Lens faced two tough teams in Marseille and Lyon.[15][16] He returned to the starting lineup on 30 November in a 4–1 defeat to Brest.[17] Despite the firing of Wallemme following the Brest match, Varane remained a starter in the team under new manager László Bölöni. In December, with both Chelle and Yahia returning to action, Varane was placed in the defensive midfielder role in the team's match against Bordeaux. In the match, he acted as a roving third centre back and made a blocked save in the 84th minute on a close range shot by Yoan Gouffran to preserve a 2–1 lead.[18] However, in the latter stages of the match, Bordeaux equalized to draw the match at 2–2.[19] In January 2011, Varane was the subject of transfer speculation with the player being linked to several clubs.[20] In an effort to quell the interest, on 3 February 2011, he signed a two-year contract extension with Lens until 2015.[21][22][23] On 8 May, Varane scored his first professional goal in a 1–1 draw with Caen.[24] In the team's following match against Monaco, he scored the equalizing goal in another 1–1 draw.[25] Despite the goal, the stalemate condemned Lens to relegation back to Ligue 2 after two seasons in the top division.[26] On 21 May, Varane captained Lens in its 1–0 defeat to Arles-Avignon.[27]

• published: 25 Apr 2016
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