Former £42m Man Utd star reveals Jose Mourinho called him 'useless' (2025)

Former Manchester United defender Raphael Varane has revealed that Jose Mourinho called him ‘useless’ during their time together at Real Madrid.

Varane made the £10 million move from Lens to Madrid in the summer of 2011 where he linked 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 regarded as the third-choice central defender behind Pepe and Sergio Ramos.

But ahead of his second season in the Spanish capital, Varane says he received some tough love from Mourinho in order to become an established first-team player.

‘When I arrived, 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 Bridge.

‘The first season, I must have played fifteen matches in total, but I played the matches where we had already qualified, 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 expected of me. So I overplayed a bit and I wasn’t comfortable, I wasn’t feeling well.

‘And one day, at the start of the season, he called me, even though the team’s start to the season wasn’t great. I remember it well, it was in the gym, he called 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 complicated start to the season.

‘He had nagged me then and then he asked 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 been ‘dead’ if he failed to step up under Mourinho.

‘It was a bit of a bluff, I said ‘yes’ even though I wasn’t ready,’ Varane added.

‘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 messed up it was over and it was dead.

‘Everything that was going to happen after that no longer existed, I would have been sent out on loan.’

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