REAL MADRID
Real Madrid and Sergio Ramos: a divorce seems certain
Los Blancos' captain feels unable to renew his contract with the club, mainly driven by his stance against the joint 10% pay cut and past events.
More and more signs are being given out that Sergio Ramos has no future at Real Madrid. With less than one month to go before the end of his current contract, the situation appears to be deadlocked. What's more, it is already more than clear that there is a total divide between the captain and the president, Florentino Pérez.
The end is nigh for Ramos and Madrid
The recent signing of David Alaba is proving a determining factor in whether there will be a changing of the guard at Los Blancos. The Austrian, who is 28 years old and is likely to have five good years ahead of him, has take on the salary of the captain after arriving on a free transfer. Ramos, however, didn’t even feature in the promotional videos of the new kit for the 2021/22 campaign.
Real Madrid news:
According to Spanish outlet Onda Cero, one of the main reasons for the divorce between Ramos and Madrid is that senior club management has been very disappointed by Ramos being one of the main promoters against players accepting a 10% reduction in salary, a proposal prompted by the pandemic and lack of fans in the stadium. That forced the club to negotiate individually with their playing staff and was only accepted by some. The radio station’s report says that Ramos’ argument against the cut was that the money saved would be just be used to pay for Kylian Mbappé.
This reduction was seen as vital for Madrid in order to offset a large part of the more than 100 million euros of losses it expects to make in this second year of the pandemic (in total, revenues have fallen by more than 30% to 617 million euros). This wage reduction of 10% - applied across their football and basketball teams as well as within senior management - would have meant around 50 million euros saved. It’s worth noting that of the 617 million euros of income, the total wage bill of the club's 800 workers is 448 million euros.
But it is not only this issue that has triggered the imminent divorce between player and president. And three others stand out above the rest.
The first was in 2015, when Ramos forced through an offer from Manchester United only to see him renew his improved contract, just as the other captain at the time, Iker Casillas, had left Madrid in traumatic fashion. The second was when the two men clashed in the dressing room after the Champions League exit against Ajax two seasons ago. And the third, when the defender asked to leave for China on a free transfer. The president did not let him, and he also embarrassed the defender when he said publicly that he was the highest paid in the squad.
Ramos has been the kind of captain who does not mince his words and has spoken out publicly himself on the president and certain decisions made, or proposed, by him. Now, unless there is a big turnaround, a new era is set to begin at the Spanish giants, with the current captain making way.