Manchester United’s pursuit of Sergio Ramos is over, with the Spain defender ready to extend his contract at Real Madrid next week.
Ramos told Madrid he wanted to leave for Old Trafford at a meeting with the club’s chief executive, José Ángel Sánchez, at the club’s Valdebebas training ground on 24 June and Manchester United made two formal bids for the player. But at a long meeting in Guangzhou, China, on 26 July, he was told the clubwould not sell him under any circumstances.
The defender has two years left on his existing contract. Madrid have made an offer of a new five-year deal, paying around €9m (£6.42m) a year after tax – an increase of €2m a year. United had offered a five-year contract, worth close to €11m a season. The new deal at the Bernabéu has not been signed and the parties have not reached a final agreement but both the player and the club anticipate that being finalised in the next few days. An announcement is expected early next week.
United’s chances of signing Ramos had already been effectively ended by that meeting in Chinalast month, the point at which the player’s camp considered his departure to be impossible. The meeting had begun with the player reiterating his desire to leave and it ran long into the night. The president, Florentino Pérez, refused to back down and also laid out the basis of a new contract offer.
Manchester United’s interest in signing Ramos was first made apparent to Madrid in June. Representatives from Madrid met with United to discuss a deal for David de Gea, only to be told: if you want De Gea, we’ll have Ramos. United hoped the goalkeeper would provide necessary leverage, allied to Ramos’s desire to leave. They made an initial bid of €40m and soon after Ramos met with Madrid and asked them to sell him to United. Madrid set a prohibitive price, without explicitly declaring him not for sale.
United made a second bid but Madrid’s position hardened further following the departure of Iker Casillas. They could not afford to let the man who was set to replace Casillas as captain leave too. On the day that Casillas departed, Pérez said: “There are some players with contracts who want to go who will not be allowed to.”
Ramos’s representatives informed Sky Sports of his desire to leave but the defender did not force Madrid’s hand by publicly saying he wanted to go, not least because of the potential fall-out and the damage to his relationship with supporters if he ended up staying.
Pérez met with Ramos in China and told him that he would not be leaving under any circumstances. This was a battle Pérez was determined to win and, with two years left on Ramos’s contract, the president was in the driving seat. With the departure appearing impossible, discussions on a new contract began and next week the deal is expected to be finalised and signed.
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