It has been widely reported that Spanish international Sergio Ramos is ready to commit his future to current employers Real Madrid.

It’s amazing how quickly things can change in football.

Only last month we were being told that the Spanish defender was determined to quit the La Liga giants and had his heart set on a move to Manchester United.

United tried to make the most out of the saga by trying to get a swap deal done involving Ramos and United’s keeper David de Gea, a player who has been interesting Madrid all summer. The Manchester giants were also credited with making two big bids for the defender.

It has looked as though the central defender has been Man United’s main defensive target. He would have offered the Premier League club vast experience at the back and an established ball playing centre-back. Last season the Old Trafford side were lacking at the back and Ramos would have certainly improved things.

But surely Louis van Gaal could see that his club were being used, as Ramos looked to improve on his current Real deal.

After all it has happened in the past. Former ‘Red Devils’ player Cristiano Ronaldo seemed to use the same tactic a few years back.

Maybe this was all a ploy by Man Utd as they tried to distract Real’s president Florentino Perez away from his goal of signing David de Gea this summer. Although now that Ramos seems to be staying at the Bernabeu, expect Señor Perez to go all out between now and the end of August in his bid to force a move for the goalkeeper through.

This could represent a shockingly bad summer for Manchester United if De Gea were to leave for Los Blancos this transfer window, along with the Ramos snub and no other new  centre back coming in.

You’d hope that Van Gaal will have more defensive transfer targets in mind but only time will tell.

It will now be interesting to see how the David de Gea transfer narrative ends. Can United hold out for the £34m that they want? Will Real managed to get the price closer to £18m? Or will the Spanish cracks wait until the next summer when they can get the keeper on a free?

I’d imagine Perez will come in with at least one more bid but I doubt it will reach the £30m mark. His coach (Rafa Benitez) won’t have a problem with either Keylor Navas or Kiko Casillas starting the campaign as his number one.

The Ramos debacle hasn’t been a great success for Manchester United but I suppose it all depends on what they do next.

Should they end this transfer window with David De Gea remaining in between the sticks, a new solid centre-half coming in and a new world-class forward then the club’s fans won’t care a jot about Sergio Ramos or his famous employers!

Posted on July 30th, 2015 by scott
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