Real Madrid willing to offer Sergio Ramos new contract
By Tom Gott
Real Madrid are prepared to re-open contract negotiations with centre back Sergio Ramos after a heart-to-heart meeting between the defender and club president Florentino Perez.
Ramos' deal has just a few weeks left to run and he was expected to leave the club this summer after rejecting multiple offers of a one-year extension, instead pursuing a two-year deal without the wage cut that has been proposed for everyone in the team.
Real stood firm and eventually ended talks, leaving Ramos in purgatory, ready to step down and accept whatever offer the club would hand him, but there were concerns that he had already burned his bridges with Los Blancos and may not get the chance to extend his stay.
According to AS, Ramos might be about to get his wish as Real are understood to be willing to give the 35-year-old one final chance to agree to a one-year deal with a 10% pay cut - something Ramos is now begrudgingly prepared to accept.
Ramos has never really wanted to leave Real and the club have always wanted to keep him as well. They value the centre back's leadership in the dressing room and still see him as one of the best defenders around, but they were not prepared to be bullied into a new contract by a player who hasn't shied away from using the dark arts in contract negotiations in the past.
Manchester United fans will know all about Ramos' willingness to flirt with an exit from Real to land himself an improved contract. A £30m move was on the cards in 2015, when Ramos' deception worked so well that it even had United convinced they were about to make a huge splash in the transfer market.
The move obviously never happened and Ramos instead inked fresh terms at the Santiago Bernabeu, but Real weren't having any of that this time around - particularly after he tried to convince the Real squad to reject the proposed pay cuts.
Club officials were livid with Ramos' attempts to divide the dressing room and were prepared to let the defender go, with Perez understood to have been planning a farewell party for him before this latest meeting.
However, it now appears as though Ramos is close to staying after all. Real want him to sign a one-year deal and he is finally prepared to agree to that, so it feels like it's just a matter of time before this one gets sorted out.
Once this is all dealt with, Real will be able to focus on selling Frenchman Raphael Varane, who has one year left on his contract and is thought to have already made his mind up about leaving the club this summer.