30 Jun 2015 09:19:11
Hi eds. I see a lot of things in the press being said about Sergio Ramos and his desire to leave Real Madrid.

Could you please, if it's not too much trouble give us an update on what you know about the situation. Thanks in advance

{Ed001's Note - we do have a Madrid site mate, but I will answer it here anyway, to the best of my ability. Ramos wants a big pay rise, as he is not one of the higher paid Madrid players. Perez sees Ramos as a bit of an issue, as he and Casillas are the heads of one of the splits in the camp. It was Ramos that stirred up the players against Jose Mourinho.

Ramos is represented by his brother, who decided that the negotiations were not going as well as they could be, Ramos was not being offered anything like the terms he was looking for, so he spoke to one of the Barcelona presidential candidates regarding using them as leverage. The candidate would be able to say he had agreed a deal to sign him and Madrid would panic and offer him a better contract to keep him. At least that was the theory.

In practice, Perez knew it was ridiculous and Ramos was forced to make a public statement about how he would never sign for Barca, which everyone already knew anyway. His brother started linking him with other possibilities in the press. Namely Manchester United. That was all it was until Man Utd sat down to discuss De Gea and asked if there was a possibility of including Ramos in the deal.

Madrid said he was going nowhere, but United have not quite given up and Madrid have not fully blocked the possibility, just put it off until after a valuation has been agreed on De Gea. So it is still up in the air right now, though I would be shocked if Ramos himself would want to move, no matter who it was interested in him.}

1.) 30 Jun 2015
30 Jun 2015 09:37:09
Ed001 Thanks very much for the insight. I really appreciate it. In future I will pop over to the Real Madrid page to ask such questions. The only reason I asked was because of what Graham Hunter said yesterday evening and again on radio this morning stating that Ramos has asked to leave and that the Ramos camp had seemingly instructed Hunter to inform the media of this. Maybe he is just being used as a pawn but it was quite interesting to hear it from a supposed 'reliable' source within Madrid.

2.) 30 Jun 2015
30 Jun 2015 11:25:09
It is impossible to say for sure about Ramos's motives, but the longer it goes on, the more likely it will be that he leaves. Things are very testy, but it is not the first time a player has used that as leverage for a pay rise.