Manchester United’s chances of signing Sergio Ramos have drastically lowered, after Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez told the defender that he would not be leaving at any cost.
According to Sid Lowe of the Guardian, Perez, alongside José Angel Sánchez, Real’s chief executive, held a meeting with Ramos and his brother/agent, René, which ran late into Sunday night in Guangzhou, China, where Real Madrid are currently participating in the International Champions Cup.
In the meeting, Ramos once again asked Perez to grant his request to leave the club and join United, who have made two official bids for the 29-year old, but Pérez refused to even consider selling him. With two years left on Ramos’ existing contract, it is Pérez and Real who hold all the cards in this battle.
Pérez has tried to do damage control and repair his fractured relationship with Ramos, but all along he has refused to entertain any notion of Ramos leaving the club. The defender had told Real of his intentions to leave the club in late June, and at that point Pérez had set a fee that could keep clubs out of reach but one that would also signal that a move wouldn’t be out of the question.
This latest development will undoubtedly help United’s cause in keeping David de Gea at Old Trafford. Real have actively sought to bring the 24-year old back to his hometown, but United’s position is that they will not sell de Gea unless Ramos signs in exchange.
It is unclear whether that position has changed, given Louis van Gaal has signed Argentinian keeper Sergio Romero on a free transfer from Sampdoria. van Gaal even admitted to signing Romero over fears that de Gea might be leaving the club. In an interview with the official Manchester United website, the Dutchman said: “I think in our situation, if De Gea is going or not going, it is always a threat and we have to take care, make sure that we are prepared and that is why I think it is very good that Sergio Romero is now a Manchester United player.”
It seems that United’s pursuit of Ramos may be coming to an end, but expect this story to run and run for the remainder of the transfer window.
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