Florentino Perez is not responsible for the departure of Sergio Ramos

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Former Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos looks set to join PSG after officially announcing his departure from Los Blancos. Madrid residents were nervously glued to their screens for Ramos’ updates for months, and instead of receiving the satisfying conclusion that seemed almost inevitable, they wondered what had happened.

It seems almost impossible to conceive that a legend like Ramos, who remains one of the best in the world in his post, could leave the club in this way. And as you can imagine, many have started to play the blame game. A few have, shamefully enough, turned their contempt for Ramos, but most have understandably pointed the finger at President Florentino Perez, who didn’t endear to fans much with bad decisions in the transfer market and his escapade. embarrassing in the European Super League.

While it’s common to find a narrative that matches an emotion and go with it, I’m here to tell you that there is no one to blame for what happened. Not Ramos, sure. And not even Perez. These were the risks associated with tenuous negotiations in a transfer market affected by the pandemic. I’ll try to separate fact from fiction and detail what likely happened, highlighting the so-called “contract offer expiration” which has a lot of outrage.

First of all, we need to discuss the original question. Real Madrid have a policy of not offering players of a certain age more than a year of extra time. Luka Modric had no problem accepting such an extension, while Karim Benzema has made it clear that he does not want to sign an extension unless he knows he can contribute at the highest level.

Real Madrid, Sergio Ramos (Photo by James Williamson – AMA / Getty Images)

Real Madrid gave Sergio Ramos a choice he didn’t take

Ramos wanted two years. Real were reluctant to accept this at first but they were ready to make an exception for their captain, who had played at an incredibly high level in the first half of the season before suffering his first injury of the campaign in Pamplona. . .

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Los Blancos have given Ramos an option. Take two years with the 10% pay cut everyone is taking during the pandemic, including Modric, or take a year with the same pay. Even Lucas Vazquez will suffer a pay cut next season despite a raise in the final year of his three-year contract extension.

You will notice that these reports were in winter. Ramos ‘response to Los Blancos’ offers and attempted compromises stalled. There were rumors of interest from PSG but, at the time, PSG reportedly said they would not negotiate with Ramos until his contract ended so as not to disrupt their relationship with Los Blancos.

But it stands to reason that Ramos, aware that he wasn’t quite getting the offer he wanted from Real financially, did his due diligence while shopping.

He and his agent likely tapped other elite clubs like PSG, Manchester United and Manchester City to see what they were up to offer. And they probably told him to wait, either because they didn’t want to damage their relationship with Real, in the case of PSG, or they legitimately didn’t know what budget or financial commitment they would be willing to make. until they have more information about their needs and the market.

Real Madrid, Florentino Perez (Photo by David Benito / Getty Images)

Real Madrid replaced David Alaba when Sergio Ramos stalled

So the waiting game began for Ramos. While all of this was going on, Real Madrid had a handshake deal with football’s most prominent free agent, David Alaba. There were so many conflicting reports on whether the deal was 100% signed or not, as it was still linked to Chelsea, PSG, Barcelona and even others.

I guess nothing official has been signed, but Real, Alaba and Agent Pini Zahavi have come to a loose pact. Basically, Los Blancos would submit this financial offer to Alaba’s side but have an ‘out’ in case Ramos accepts his contract offer before the end of the season. Meanwhile, Alaba would have an “exit” if tempted by someone else’s contract offer.

But in the end, Alaba was not influenced by any other opening. He turned down PSG and Chelsea, while his other favorite destination, La Blaugrana, couldn’t quite present themselves as a competitive offer. Although PSG apparently offered a much higher salary than Los Blancos, the salary difference was not enough to dissuade Alaba from his dream destination and the challenge of being a versatile chess piece at the Santiago Bernabeu.

So when the season ended and the contracts were officially done, Alaba stood firm on their handshake deal with Real. And Real too, because Ramos did not accept his own offer. Real Madrid had apparently told Ramos, who had lost important contract leverage due to multiple injuries, that there was a deadline in March. The spring came and went without movement.

Real Madrid, Sergio Ramos (Photo by SHAUN BOTTERILL / POOL / AFP via Getty Images)

What did the “delay” really mean?

And it wasn’t until well after the end of the season that Ramos returned to Real Madrid to accept an offer that was no longer there. This is the part that baffles some Madridistas, even though the media had reported a deadline in the spring.

At the time, I believed the deadline was nothing more than a pressure negotiation tactic, but there was a real “deadline” and that was Alaba. If Los Blancos did not get a response from Ramos at the end of the season and Alaba did not leave the door open offered by the ‘handshake’ deal, then they would have no choice but to spend the salary on Alaba and save their budget – and potentially Eder Militao’s starting job, given his incredible performance at the end of the season – and say no to Ramos.

And I think that’s precisely what happened. By the time Ramos returned to accept Real’s offer, realizing that other clubs weren’t in a position to make significantly better offers when they were able to submit more concrete information to him, Los Blancos were already locked in Alaba. and couldn’t pay for two. well paid veteran defenders.

There is no bad guy here. Ramos had the right to find the best deal possible and was unable to expedite the process due to the lack of information in this market at the time. Meanwhile, Real Madrid couldn’t bet on Ramos’ return and eagerly wanted to secure someone with Raphael Varane’s future on hold as well. So they took on a younger, more versatile free agent at Alaba, despite being demoted as a true center-back. Because Florentino Perez knew that if Real Madrid didn’t sign Alaba with this opportunity and lose Ramos, there could be problems.

If there is any frustration, maybe it is towards Real for not committing to Ramos earlier and even for choosing Alaba. But looking back, I can hardly blame Perez, given the uncertainty. Real Madrid wanted to strike a deal and take advantage of Alaba’s opportunity.

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Ultimately, there is no animosity between Ramos and the club, although some newspapers have attempted to run a smear campaign by portraying Ramos as greedy, and therefore the fan base shouldn’t have any animosity towards no game as a result of these events. Sometimes it’s the cost of the business. But Real will still get a top player at Alaba and Ramos will likely get a living wage and a chance at gold with PSG. We all feel like we’ve all lost because of it, ever since Ramos left Real, but over time everything will be fine and everything will be fine. As loaded as it sounds even after the news broke, there’s no need for vitriol. Just a hint of sadness.

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