Benzema, Varane and Bale were summer targets for Manchester United, confirms Perez

United were also interested in rendering the services of Benzema and Varane according to Perez

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Manchester United were interested in acquiring the services of Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema and center back Raphael Varane along with the much publicised pursuit of Welsh star Gareth Bale and newly appointed club captain Sergio Ramos, the club supremo Florentino Perez has confirmed.

In an interview with Spanish radio station Cadena Ser Florentino Perez revealed that not only were Manchester United were interested in signing Gareth Bale and Sergio Ramos but were also keen on the aforementioned French duo. "We know that United showed interest in Bale, Benzema and Varane," Perez told Spanish radio station Cadena Ser.

Real Madrid’s newly appointed club captain, Sergio Ramos was rumoured to be heading to Old Trafford earlier in the summer but signed a contract extension until 2020 with Real Madrid a month later. Perez insisted he never doubted the defender would commit himself to the club."I never saw Ramos leaving this club," he added as per the Mirror.

"He was never close to doing so. Manchester United meddled in the situation.Those who want to do harm to Real Madrid meddle but nothing really happened, nothing more than happens every summer."

Manchester United wanted to bolster their attack

With Manchester United trying to sign a world class centre-forward and improve their attack for the new season after the departure of Robin Van Persie to Fenerbahce, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale were in their sights but however no bid was made for the Frenchman or the former Spurs player and instead Anthony Martial, the 19-year-old was signed from AS Monaco for a whopping sum of £36 million. Benzema along with Gareth Bale and Raphael Varane are considered unsellable among the quarters at Bernabeu.

After the David De Gea move failed to materialise on the transfer deadline day due to late submission of paperwork to the LFP, in the same interview Perez also criticised Manchester United’s lack of experience in dealing with transfers particularly directed towards United CEO Ed Woodward saying "I think what they lack is experience. It happened before with [Fabio] Coentrao, exactly the same. And it happened with Ander Herrera and Athletic Bilbao. They have a new team and they lack experience."

The transfer situation of David De Gea made both Manchester United and Real Madrid bitter against each other however Perez said that the two clubs still maintain a healthy relationship.