Varane arrived at Madrid with Mourinho at the helm. More specifically, during the Portuguese coach's second season at the Santiago Bernabeu. The Frenchman arrived as a promising centre-back with pace, a big build and good ability on the ball. Now settled at Madrid, the 24-year old sat down with 'GQ' and spoke about the shaky start to his spell with Los Blancos.
"It was a weird time for me, during Mourinho's spell. At the start of the season nothing was going well for me and I didn't know why. I wasn't playing well, I spoke to the boss and he asked me: 'why aren't you playing at your level?' Three days later, when I was 19, Mourinho put me in the starting eleven against City. I saw it as a challenge and I did well during the match," the defender recalled.
Varane remembers when he arrived at Madrid he had "very little experience" and in the first few days it was all about "keeping your eyes wide open to see how everything was". His aims were clear: "Work, work and work to be able to grow; I was watching everything that happened with the team so I could learn from the others."
As he was learning day by day in this way, Varane took Cristiano Ronaldo as an example to keep improving: "He is the epitome of professionalism, the spirit of sacrifice and winning mentality."
Finally, the centre-back said he is "happy" in Madrid: "It's a city that has everything, you can do anything and get the most out of life."