Real Madrid: Why Florentino Perez is not to blame for Sergio Ramos’ departure

Former Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos appears close to joining PSG after officially announcing his departure from Los Blancos. Madridistas had been nervously glued to their screens for Ramos updates for months, and instead of receiving the satisfying conclusion that almost seemed inevitable, they have been left wondering just what the heck happened.

It seems almost impossible to conceive that a legend like Ramos, who remains one of the best in the world at his position, could leave the club in this manner. And as you’d expect, many have started playing the blame game. A few have, rather disgracefully, turned their scorn at Ramos, but most have understandably pointed the finger at president Florentino Perez, who has very much not endeared himself to the fanbase with poor transfer market decisions and his embarrassing European Super League escapade.

Although it is popular to find a narrative that fits an emotion and roll with it, I am here to tell you that there is nobody to blame for what happened. Not Ramos, certainly. And not even Perez. This was a case of the risks associated with tenuous negotiations in a transfer market altered by the pandemic. I will attempt to separate fact from fiction and detail what likely happened, shedding light on the so-called “contract offer expiry” that has many up in arms.

First, we must discuss the original issue. Real Madrid has a policy of not offering more than a one-year extension to players of a certain age. Luka Modric had no issue with accepting such an extension, while Karim Benzema has made it clear that he does not want to sign extensions unless he knows he can contribute at the highest level.

Real Madrid gave Sergio Ramos a choice that he did not take

Ramos wanted two years. Real were, at first, reluctant to agree to this, but they were open to making an exception for their captain, who had been playing at an incredibly high level in the first half of the season before suffering his initial injury of the campaign in Pamplona.

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Los Blancos gave Ramos an option. Take two years with the 10 percent paycut that everyone else is taking in the pandemic, including Modric, or take one year at the same salary. Even Lucas Vazquez will take a paycut next season despite receiving a raise on the final year of his three-year contract extension.

You’ll notice that these reports were in the winter. Ramos’ response to Real’s offers and attempts at compromise were to stall. There were rumors of interest from PSG, but, at the time, PSG reportedly said, that they would not negotiate with Ramos until his contract were up so as to not disrupt their relationship with Los Blancos.

But it stands to reason that Ramos, aware that he was not quite getting the offer he wanted from Real financially, did his due diligence by shopping around.

He and his agent likely put feelers out to other elite clubs like PSG, Manchester United, and Manchester City to see what they were willing to offer. And they probably told him to wait, either because they didn’t want to hurt their relationship with Real, in PSG’s case, or they legitimately did not know what budget or financial commitment they’d be willing to make until they had more information about their needs and the market.

Real Madrid moved for 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 agreement with the hottest free agent in football, David Alaba. There were so many conflicting reports about whether the deal was 100 percent signed or not, since he was still being linked with Chelsea, PSG, Barcelona, and even others.

My guess is that nothing official was signed, but Real, Alaba, and agent Pini Zahavi came to a loose pact. Basically, Real would submit this financial offer to Alaba’s camp but have an “out” in case Ramos agreed to their contract offer(s) before the season ended. Meanwhile, Alaba would have an “out” if he were tempted by someone else’s contract offer.

But as it turns out, Alaba was not swayed by any other overtures. He turned down PSG and Chelsea, while his other preferred destination, La Blaugrana, could not quite muster up as competitive of an offer. Although PSG seemingly offered a much higher salary than Los Blancos, the difference in salary was not enough to deter 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 up, Alaba stood firm on his handshake deal with Real. And so did Real, owing that Ramos did not accept their own offer. Real Madrid had apparently told Ramos, who lost significant contract leverage due to multiple injuries, that there was a deadline in March. The spring came and went with no movement.

What did the ‘deadline’ actually mean?

And it was only well after the season ended that Ramos went back to Real Madrid to accept an offer that was no longer there. This is the part that baffles some Madridistas, even though outlets had reported of a deadline during the spring.

At the time, I believed the deadline to be nothing more than a pressure negotiating tactic, but there was a real “deadline” and that was Alaba. If Real did not get a response from Ramos by the time the season ended and Alaba did not leave the open door afforded by the “handshake” agreement, 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 performances at the end of the season – and say no to Ramos.

And I think that’s precisely what happened. By the time Ramos had come back to accept Real’s offer, realizing the other clubs were not able to give significantly better offers when they were able to submit him more concrete information, Los Blancos were already locked in to Alaba and could not feasibly pay for two high-wage veteran defenders.

There’s no villain here. Ramos had a right to find the best offer possible and could not accelerate the process due to the lack of information in this market at the time. Meanwhile, Real Madrid could not gamble on Ramos returning and wanted to eagerly secure someone, with Raphael Varane’s future also up in the air. So they went after a younger, more versatile free agent in Alaba, even if he is a downgrade as a true central defender. Because Florentino Perez knew that if Real Madrid did not sign Alaba with this opportunity and lost Ramos, there could be trouble.

If there is any frustration, then it may be to Real for not committing to Ramos sooner and for even going for Alaba. But in hindsight, I can hardly blame Perez, given the uncertainty. Real Madrid wanted to get one deal done and take advantage of the Alaba opportunity.

At the end of the day, there is no animosity between Ramos and the club, as much as some papers have tried to lead a smear campaign painting Ramos as greedy, and therefore the fanbase should not have animosity to any party as a result of these events. Sometimes, this is the cost of business. But Real will still get a top player in Alaba and Ramos will likely get a decent payday and a shot at gold with PSG. It feels like we all lost as a result of this, since Ramos has left Real, but with time, all will heal and be OK. As charged as this all seems even well after the news broke, there is no need for any vitriol. Just a hint of sadness.