Real Madrid fan Tom Wilde has been impressed by young French defender Raphael Varane. In fact he is so impressed he is predicting a very bright future for the 19-year old.

Zinedine Zidane was behind the transfer of young Frenchman Raphael Varane from RC Lens to Real Madrid in the Summer of 2011. Zidane insisted that Real Madrid sign this player having kept an eye on him at Lens and stating that he reminded him of now French National Coach Laurent Blanc.

The then 18 year old Varane was shown the facilities at Real Madrid’s training complex of Valdebebas, met with both Jose Mourinho and Zidane and was immediately impressed with Real Madrid’s offer and put pen to paper on a six year contract with the Spanish giants.

Now it has to be said that Real Madrid has had a tendency to mismanage young talent acquired from other teams in recent years. Look at the likes of Royston Drenthe, Fernando Gago, Sergio Canales and Ezequiel Garay.

All of these players arrived with bundles of promise, and ended up wasted on the bench, not being given a fair chance and eventually loaned out or sold. The worry was that Varane would suffer the same fate as these players and so many other youthful talents that could have done so much more at the club.

Varane feels different though. A tall, sharp and commanding centre back at the tender age of 19, he made 15 appearances this season for Mourinho. He impressed in all of them. Seldom putting a foot wrong, showing good ability to tackle, play the ball out from the back and even chip in with two goals and an impressive assist that one would come to expect from a winger rather than a centre back.

Whenever he has played this season his composure and confidence on the ball is what makes him stand out. At such a young age he doesn’t appear phased by the magnitude of playing for Real Madrid. He has quickly become popular among fans. As Real Madrid were presented with their League trophy, every player was individually introduced to the Bernabeu, Varane received a surprisingly loud cheer, much louder in fact than players such as Raul Albiol or even Kaka.

It looks likely that Ricardo Carvalho could soon be leaving Madrid and this will mean more minutes for Varane. It is rare that you can be genuinely excited about the prospects of a central defender but Varane really does seem to have the potential to be a key figure for Real Madrid and France for years to come.

With Sergio Ramos and Pepe ahead of him it could be a while before we see him as a first choice centre back but with defenders of that calibre in his team it can only help him improve. The way he has been used this season has been quite intelligent. He may have struggled had he been thrown in the deep end week in week out but he also was played enough to showcase his obvious ability.

Varane will be hoping that next season he’ll be given more chances and improve his all round game. As a talent, he is still raw, but he does possess all the attributes that could help him turn into a world class defender. He could very well be one that will be around at the highest level in years to come.