Real Madrid 'assume' Sergio Ramos will leave this summer as contract impasse remains

Real Madrid are preparing for the departure of Sergio Ramos this summer, with one news outlet in Spain claiming that Los Blancos ‘assume’ the 34-year-old will be leaving.

Ramos, a four-time Champions League winner with Real and fourth on the club’s all-time appearance list, is out of contract this coming summer and talks over a fresh deal have consistently failed to produce an agreement.

According to Spanish broadcaster El Chiringuito, Real have concluded that Ramos is probably now going to be playing his football elsewhere next season, which would bring an end to his glittering career with Los Blancos after 16 years.

A separate report from newspaper El Pais suggests that Ramos is unhappy with the offer currently on the table from Real, which proposes a 10% pay cut to extend his contract for a year until 2022. That offer includes the option of an extra year, but still on the same terms with the reduction.

It is said that Ramos believes he deserves more, both in terms of the actual contract and more of a formal approach with concrete clarifications, as opposed to informal conversations.

El Pais claims that Real president Florentino Perez promised Ramos an extension to his contract in 2018 if the club beat Liverpool in the Champions League final. They did, winning a record 14th European title in the process, but the player has never had that new deal.

Ramos is alleged to have told Perez in recent weeks that he has an offer from Paris Saint-Germain worth €20m per year, although a source from the French club has told El Pais that isn't true, citing it as more than superstar forward Kylian Mbappe gets paid and suggesting it is another example of PSG being used as a bargaining tool in contract negotiations with other clubs.

But the stance from Perez appears to be that he would rather let Ramos go than improve the offer, which has created the current impasse and is leading Los Blancos to believe he will move on. The club is even preparing to sign David Alaba on a free transfer as a replacement.

Real aren’t thought to want to lose a player who still has such quality and influence in the twilight years of his career, nor is Ramos thought to want to leave and play elsewhere. Right now, it appears to be a game of chicken as player and club wait for the other to blink first.

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