Ramos set to leave Real Madrid after 16 years of service

Sergio Ramos is set to leave Real Madrid after the club announced a “farewell” news conference for their long-serving captain on Thursday.

Ramos, 35, has won five La Liga titles and four Champions Leagues in a glittering Real career after joining from boyhood club Sevilla in 2005.

The centre-back made 671 appearances, scoring 101 goals.

The club say they will hold the news conference as an “institutional act of tribute and farewell”.

Ramos’ contract expires at the end of June.

Having started his career at Sevilla, Ramos joined Real in 2005 in a record deal for a Spanish defender during Florentino Perez’s first term as club president.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest central defenders of his generation, Ramos has won 22 trophies at the Santiago Bernabeu and memorably scored a 93rd-minute equaliser in the 2014 Champions League final when Real beat rivals Atletico Madrid 4-1 after extra time to win their 10th European Cup (La Decima).

However, Ramos was unable to agree a new deal with Los Blancos and will become a free agent a little more than a month after being left out of Luis Enrique’s Spain squad for Euro 2020.

The defender has won 180 caps for his country, winning two European Championships in 2008 and 2012 and the World Cup in 2010.

‘Perez wanted Ramos out’ – analysis

It has been going on for a year, but the background is Ramos was a 19-year-old when he came to Real Madrid, he always said he wanted a to be a legend and a captain.

At some point he becomes a power and the person who wants power is Perez. He doesn’t love it, he has to live with it though.

He wanted Ramos out, like he wanted Ronaldo out. Ramos is influential on and off of the pitch though so he didn’t manage to push him away earlier. Now he has an excuse, he is 35, only played seven games in 2021, he has an injury. Perez said I will give you one more year, Ramos said two more years.

It was the excuse Perez wanted – he has gone. Where he goes next? He is a legend and will be sent off that way.

If he feels he can still compete at the highest level, he wants to play in the Premier League. If he feels he can’t, they are waiting for him in the MLS.

BBC Online