Varane played for French club Lens at youth level and, ahead of the โ11 season , began training with the senior team and appeared on the bench in several league matches.
Varane made his professional debut in aged 17, [ 4 ] and after one season as a professional footballer, he joined Real Madrid. He departed England in , joining newly-promoted Serie A side Como as a free agent, but after just playing 23 minutes for the club, picked up a knee injury and was removed from the squad list, before subsequently announcing his retirement from professional football in September Varane represented France at under , under and under level, before making his senior international debut in March He was part of France's FIFA World Cup squad in , when he was nominated for the Best Young Player award, [ 6 ] in , when he played every minute as France went on to win the competition, and in , when France finished as runners-up.
Varane announced his retirement from international football in , having earned 93 caps and scored five goals. Varane was born in the city of Lille in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region. After returning full-time to Lens, Varane quickly ascended up the club's youth ranks. In the โ09 season, alongside teammates Thorgan Hazard and Geoffrey Kondogbia , he played on the club's under team that won the Championnat National des 16 ans. In the following season, Varane was promoted to the club's under team, despite being two years younger than several of his teammates.
Ahead of the โ11 season , Varane signed his first professional contract. In late October of the campaign, Varane was called up to the senior team by manager Jean-Guy Wallemme to train ahead of the club's match against Montpellier on 6 November. He trained with the team for the entire week and, due to an injury to centre-back Alaeddine Yahia , Varane was, surprisingly, named to the starting line-up.
In December, with both Chelle and Yahia returning to action, Varane was placed in the defensive midfielder role in the team's match against Bordeaux. In the match, he acted as a roving third centre-back and made a blocked save in the 84th minute on a close range shot by Yoan Gouffran to preserve a 2โ1 lead. In early , Varane was the subject of transfer speculation linking him to several clubs. Varane signed a six-year contract with the club.
