Sergio Ramos returned for Real Madrid on Saturday but the big question is whether he is back for good. After two months with a knee injury, Ramos played an hour-long game in Madrid’s win over Elach, with plans to blow the cobwebs ready to start against Atalanta in the Champions League second leg on Tuesday. Their availability should be a significant boost for Madrid, who have a 1-0 advantage in the first leg in Italy last month and will be confident of Spain being the first, and perhaps only, left in the quarter-finals of the tournament.
And yet Ramos’s dullness is at least pointed out as a boost to his team, with his case for a stay absent another blow to his hope for a contract extension beyond the summer every week.
Madrid president Florentino Perez has reportedly offered Ramos a 10-year pay cut or a two-year deal with a second option, a continuation of his current salary but only for one more year.
Ramos wants two more years on the same salary, with the possibility of adding a third.
“There is a lot of uncertainty,” Ramos said on Thursday.
“I would like that I can say something but there is nothing new. I am only thinking about coming back from injury and finishing the season in the best possible way. There is nothing new about renewal.”
Ramos’s lineage is not in doubt, as he is perhaps the greatest defender of the modern era, certainly the most successful, and where there has been a shortage in recent years, his contribution to Real Madrid is still considerable.
When he competed for the La Liga title last season, Ramos was his most important player.
“I hope Ramos’s talk is settled as soon as possible,” Zinedine Zidan said last week.
But he turned 35 later this month and this summer a Participant offered immediate relief for a club that is now seeking financial recovery.
‘Relationships for life’
Real Madrid’s revenue fell to around 50 million euros last season, a figure which is expected to worsen again for the current season, when the absence of fans would have driven an entire campaign.
A political tension has arisen between Ramos and Perez, a power fight that erupted in moments of crisis. Nor would she want to lose face in this battle.
But perhaps most importantly, Real Madrid again faces a question of how to evolve, where the balance lies between retaining the current stars and making room for new blood.
Ramos is the embodiment of that debate, the most iconic and charismatic figure of an era, the most outspoken and also the most expensive.
For him, there is discussion about performance.
“Santiago Bernabeu said that there are no young or old players only good and bad,” Ramos said. “I can perform for three, four or five more years, if my body supports me.”
And it is also about respect. “I would like to leave with a clear conscience,” he said. “I want to go out the front door.”
For the club, there is a widespread concern about the lack of change, a stick that Zidane has regularly beaten with the term when the results have taken a turn for the worse.
If they want to make a move in the summer of this year to Kian Maleppé or Erling Brut Häland, sacrifices have to be made.
But there are also warnings against a reshuffle soon, reminding Luis Suarez’s goals for Atletico Madrid that Ramos could be a gift to the opponent, if not in La Liga, the Champions League.
Ramos himself pointed to Cristiano Ronaldo as an example of a division that benefited no one. “Both Cristiano and Real Madrid lost,” Ramos told Ibai Lallanos on his Twitch channel last week.
Promoted
“I don’t let him go because he is one of the best players in the world and he must have helped us win.
“There are certain relationships that should last for life.”
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