Real Madrid: The new issue during Sergio Ramos negotiations
Real Madrid appear to be close to signing Bayern Munich defender David Alaba for the 2021-2022 season, but Madridistas are still worried about Sergio Ramos‘ future. The captain and club legend has yet to sign a new contract with Los Blancos, as his own deal expires upon the conclusion of the 2020-2021 campaign.
Despite rumors of a mega-deal from PSG, there is still optimism that the Spanish center back will remain in Madrid. Previously, the reason for the impasse between club and player was the policy to not give a 34-year-old a two-year extension.
However, according to a report from Manu de Juan of AS (report in Spanish), that is actually no longer the issue between the two sides. He reports that Real Madrid now appear to be open to giving Sergio Ramos the two-year deal he wants.
But now the issue is salary. Luka Modric is close to signing a new deal with Los Merengues. The Croatian midfielder’s deal would include a 10 percent reduction in wages, and apparently Real want to do the same with Ramos. They want to save money, perhaps to afford big signings that will help the squad, and therefore AS reports that Real Madrid want to reduce Ramos’ salary to 10.8 million euros from 12 million euros.
Is it fair for Real Madrid to ask Sergio Ramos to take a wage cut?
Yet they would potentially be paying David Alaba more than what Ramos was originally making when Alaba isn’t as good of a center back as Ramos, nor does he have the same legacy with the club. It’s a very curious decision, and if players like Ramos and Lucas Vazquez, whose contract will also be up, are upset, you can understand where they are coming from.
From the looks of it, Real Madrid want their most valued players to take a salary reduction, using their love for the club as a means to get them to take less money. For a smaller club, that might go down well, but at Real, the players may feel devalued and like the team is taking advantage of them, only to sign players who could eventually be their replacements.
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Of course, it’s possible Real are just floating around this idea and are willing to give Ramos the 12 million euros he’s making and earning with his high-quality play. There’s always so much speculation around contracts, and there is still optimism a deal will get done. We’ll just have to wait and see how it plays out, but all the recent rumors and lack of a deal are testing the nerves of Madridistas.