Manchester United linked with bids for two Real Madrid stars

Reports emerging from the Spanish media this morning have linked Manchester United with potential moves for two Real Madrid players.

El Confidencial is reporting that United are interested in both Raphaël Varane and Álvaro Morata, as the two Real Madrid players face uncertain futures at the Bernabéu.

The report claims that France international centre-back Varane could be heading to England this summer, with his path to a regular first-team berth in Madrid blocked by Sergio Ramos and Pepe.

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Old Trafford is mentioned as a possible destination for the 23-year-old defender, as United manager José Mourinho is "a big fan of him". It was Mourinho who was in charge at Real Madrid when Varane was signed from Lens as a teenager in 2011, and the new United boss is still believed to admire the player.

Varane was due to represent France at the ongoing UEFA European Championship in his home country — where he would’ve started alongside Arsenal’s Laurent Koscielny in the centre of defence — only to suffer an injury in the lead-up to the tournament, forcing him to withdraw from Les Bleus’ squad.

El Confidencial is also reporting that Mourinho wants to sign Madrid’s Spanish striker Morata.

Morata has spent the last two seasons in Italy with Juventus, after leaving Madrid in 2014. But the 11-time European champions decided to exercise the buy-back option that they held on the 23-year-old, which will see him return to the Bernabéu for €30 million.

It is thought that Madrid only opted to re-sign Morata so that they could then sell him on to a Premier League club for a healthy profit. It is likely that Los Blancos would be looking to fetch at least €60 million for the Spain international.

With United strongly rumoured to be on the brink of completing the free transfer signing of veteran Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, it seems unlikely that Mourinho would want Morata too, considering that he will almost certainly choose to play with a one-striker system next season, and Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial are already options for that position.

But with Spain’s Euro 2016 exit bringing an end to Morata’s participation in the tournament -- where he scored three goals in four games — the questions over where the young forward will play his football next season could soon be answered.