It’s a familiar story. Spanish giants Real Madrid want a player and spend most of the summer months hounding that player’s current club until they agree to sell said player.

It has happened quite a few times between Los Blancos and Manchester United. Names like David Beckham, Gabriel Heinze, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Cristano Ronaldo have all departed England’s north west in favour of the sunnier climes that Spain’s capital affords them.

Now Man Utd goalkeeper David de Gea seems to be Madrid’s main transfer target this summer and they have started the wooing campaign to get the Spanish international goalie to come back to his home city.

Real’s hierarchy clearly see the twenty-four year old as the ideal long-term replacement for club legend Iker Casillas, whose star has diminished somewhat in the past few years.

With De Gea only having a year left on his current United contract, Real seem determined to get their man at a cut-price fee of around £15m. While United value the shot-stopper at double that price, so around £30m.

For me, it is time that United started playing hardball with the Spanish giants.

Why should they accept a fee that is £2m less than the figure they shelled out for David back in 2011?

The fact that he has improved during his spell at Old Trafford backs up United’s claims that he is worth more than £15m.

Real President Florentino Perez seems very reluctant to shell you wads of cash for a player (especially a goalkeeper) who has just one year remaining on his contract.

But United have enough financial clout to hold De Gea to his contract, one he was happy to sign when he joined from Atletico Madrid four years ago. In doing that they keep hold of a world-class keeper, don’t sell for a fraction of their valuation of him and show Real that they will not be bullied.

United’s own interest in pursuing Real’s vice-captain Sergio Ramos seems to have complicated things.

The move for the centre-back, it’s been widely reported that Manchester United have submitted a £28.6m bid for the Spanish international, will probably annoy Perez.

The offer for Ramos has shown the world that Ramos is unhappy at the Bernabeu and seems to wish a move away.

Real hate looking vulnerable in transfer/contract negotiations and this latest move by Man Utd has certainly made them look slightly weaker.

It also forces Perez into rethinking his whole transfer strategy this summer.

Should he keep an unhappy Ramos for the next two seasons? Can he afford to bow down and give the defender all he wants in a new deal? Or does he come to the table and do a deal regarding De Gea going to Madrid and Sergio flying in the opposite direction?

Each predicament holds it’s own pitfalls.

Keeping an unhappy Ramos, could lead to infighting at the club, which would be a huge distraction for new boss Rafa Benitez. The defender is well respected in the dressing room and will be openly critical if he feels it’s warranted. By holding Ramos to his contract, it will reinforce to Louis van Gaal and the United board that they should do the same with De Gea.

By handing Sergio all he wants in terms of a new contract then that sets a dangerous precedent and it will also make Perez look weak in front of the rest of the Galacticos.

Doing a swap deal between the United goalie and the Real centre-half, will mean that Real will actually be back to square one of needing to bring in another player in to shore the backline. I’d imagine that possible targets Leonardo Bonucci, Mats Hummels and Laurent Koscielny will all cost more than the £15m that they want to pay for De Gea’s services.

For Manchester United the interest in Ramos seems legit and you can see the attraction. The English Premier League side need an experienced defender to help them as they try and challenge in both the league and in Europe next season.

The twenty-nine year old international has won all there is to win with both Madrid and Spain and he could certainly have a great influence on United’s defence. He would fill the void that was left when Rio Ferdinand departed last summer, with his ball playing ways at the back.

United need to be wary regarding Ramos though. The more cynical amongst us still need to be convinced that the former Sevilla man actually wants to leave his homeland, he really could just be using the whole situation just to engineer the best possible contract at the Bernabeu.

If another world-class central defender were to become available in the mean time then I’d advise Van Gaal to make a play for him and not have all his eggs in the Sergio Ramos basket.

The whole saga between the clubs and the players would be made clearer if both stars actually had the balls to hand in written transfer requests (and forgo certain bonuses). As days go by and agents do the talking through source to the press, it just keeps everything in the shadows and prolongs the whole episode.

But whatever happens between now and the closure of the summer transfer window, Manchester United have a great opportunity to finally stand up to Real Madrid and show that the Spanish powerhouse can’t just walk over everyone when it comes to transfer deals!

Deals between the two can still be done this preseason but only if they are fair on both clubs.

Posted on June 30th, 2015 by scott
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