Ramos ‘bids’ farewell to Real Madrid after 16 yrs
MADRID, June 17, (AP): An emotional Sergio Ramos said goodbye to Real Madrid on Thursday, saying he wanted to stay but the club preferred not to renew his contract.
Ramos said he initially wanted a two-year extension instead of the one year offered by the club, but eventually he accepted the oneyear
SOCCER
deal plus a salary reduction that was already planned. He said he and his representatives were surprised when the club said its offer had expired.
“Maybe I misunderstood, but no one had told me that the offer had an expiration date,” the former Madrid captain said. “In the last conversations we had, I said that I accepted the offer, but then they told me that there was no more offer.”
Ramos acknowledged he told the club to plan its future without him but only because he felt no one should be considered greater than the club in a negotiation, not because he wanted to leave.
“This is a difficult day for me as a
president,” Pérez said. “It’s been 16 years since you began one of the most spectacular trajectories in the history of our club. You will always be in the hearts of all Madrid fans.”
Ramos had been with the club since arriving from Sevilla in 2005 when he was 19.