Bayern turned down Varane for five million as it was "too much"

Raphaël Varane is almost a one club man. He has been at Real Madrid nine years now. His career could have been very different though. Bayern Munich had the chance to sign him, but refused to pay Lens five million euros, Weeks later, 'Los Blancos' got him for double that amount. The rest is history, plenty of trophies and lots of success.

All of this has been revealed by Willy Sagnol, the Bayern scout at the time. He received reports of a defender who was shining at Len and he recommend the purchase of Varane, but the club did not listen to him. 

"One day a friend called me and said: 'You have to come to Lens and see a super interesting player.' In just over 20 minutes, I saw how mature he was despite his young age. He played as a defensive midfielder in the first half and a central defender after half-time," he commented to 'RMC Sport'.

"I had some contacts at Lens and in 48 hours, I managed to get a price with the possibility of arranging a friendly game with profit for Lens. In total, his price was around four or five million," Sagnol said.

"When I handed the dossier to the sporting director and his team, he said he was too expensive for an 18 year-old. Two months later, he went to Real Madrid. Varane does not regret going to Madrid at all, I'm sure that he is very happy. But, for a recruiter, not managing to get the board to understand these things is frustrating when you are sure you have a central defender who could have stayed at Bayern for 10 or 12 years," he lamented.