Chelsea are reportedly willing to send young french defender Kurt Zouma on loan as they seek to sign one of Varane or Mangala to bolster defensive options.
According to the London Evening Standard, Inter Milan, Sunderland and Monaco are believed to be interested in taking Zouma on loan.
Mourinho reportedly wants one of Varane or Mangala to provide more competition to John Terry, Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic, especially given David Luiz’s departure to French moneybags, PSG.
It is believed that Real Madrid would not like to sell Varane, but Varane is said to be looking at his options due to a lack of first team action as a result of injuries, and former Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti preferring Pepe and Sergio Ramos to Varane at the heart of Real Madrid’s defence.
Furthermore, Mourinho shares a close relationship with the player, who was a first team regular under the Portuguese’s tenure in Madrid, and has labelled Varane as “the best young central defender in the world”.
It is also believed that Mourinho prefers Varane to Mangala due to Porto’s high asking price of 35m and interest from both Manchester clubs, but Mangala has recently admitted to preferring London to Manchester, which may tempt Mourinho into making a move for the Porto defender.
Varane and Mangala are currently both with the french squad ahead of their last 16 clash with Nigeria.
