Florentino Perez, Sergio Ramos, his brother and agent, René have signed the ‘Armistice of Guangzhou’. They’ve agreed to end hostilities and start fresh contract negotiations back in Madrid. René traveled to China to support his brother during this key moment when Sergio met up with Florentino for then first time since July 9. His intention to travel to Guangzhou was not to negotiate with the president but to seek to clarify Florentino’s position.
One of Sergio Ramos’ main complaints is the manner in which Florentino has been filtering details of the negotiation process to the media so as to taint Ramos and his family as money-grabbers. The defender is out of contact in 2017 (when the player will be 31 years old) and Madrid offered him a new deal with a 7 million euro net annual salary whilst Ramos requested 10. Both player and his agent feel that the economic aspect is not the crux of the negotiation. The player still maintains the idea of a move to United, but is pleased to see that Florentino has had a change of heart after the harsh criticism the club received for their handling of Iker Casillas’ departure from Madrid. Perez is anxious to avoid another negative episode and to this point has been willing to come to a ‘gentleman’s agreement’ with Ramos and his brother. The view is now ‘let’s forget about the past and sit down together’...
“Sergio Ramos will stay at Real Madrid. He is a great player and captain”, is what Rafa Benítez has repeated on countless occasions now in press conferences. Ramos has been a starter in all three pre-season games along with Bale, Cristiano, Marcelo and Keylor Navas. The player from Camas is also the defender who featured most last season: Ramos (3.545’), Varane (3.428’) y Pepe (3.184’). Benítez plans to look after him on and off the pitch as without doubt Ramos is his best ‘signing’.