Sergio Ramos tells Real Madrid he wants to join Manchester United

Sergio Ramos is determined to leave Real Madrid to join Manchester United, according to reports by @sidlowe.

Ramos has been informed by Real Madrid that they received a formal bid from United valued at €40m and that he had told the club that he wants to leave this summer. The 29-year-old also informed Real that he is only interested in joining United, despite interest from Manchester City, according to Sky Sports.

United are determined to sign Ramos and made a bid prior to the player meeting Madrid’s chief executive, José Ángel Sánchez, last week, although the Spanish club continued to brief that they had not yet had any offers.

During the meeting, held at the club’s Valdebebas HQ, Ramos confirmed to Madrid that he intended to leave and asked them to listen to offers. A conversation with the club’s president, Florentino Pérez, followed but there has been no reconciliation. Neither the player nor the club have made any public statement.

Madrid did not adopt the standard response, which is to insist that the player would only leave if United met the full value of his buy out clause, which stands at €180m, but they do value him prohibitively high, setting the price close to €100m. United are determined to use David de Gea as leverage and are prepared to prevent the goalkeeper from leaving this summer.

Ramos has two years left on his contract but negotiations for a renewal had reached a stalemate. He earns around €6m a year, but this is not just a tactic designed to draw a better offer from Madrid. The relationship between Madrid and the player’s camp is extremely tense and although it is impossible to predict how this will end, Ramos’s determination to leave is real.

culled: Guardian