Abraham P. Romero Madrid

Madrid

Updated Saturday, February 24, 2024-23:53

At

23 hours and 47 minutes

on

August 31, 2005

,

René Ramos ,

Sergio

's brother

, and

Pedro Bravo

, the footballer's representative, gave

Manuel García Gurruchaga

, head of Competitions for the

Professional Football League

, a check for

27 million

of euros in the name of the

Sevilla Fútbol Club

.

At that exact time, thirteen minutes before the closing of the summer market, Sergio Ramos paid his termination clause to leave

Nervión

and sign for

Real Madrid

.

Tonight, almost two decades after becoming Florentino Pérez

's first Spanish galactico

, the Camas defender will return to the

Santiago Bernabéu to face

Real Madrid

for the first time

since he said goodbye to the white team on June 17, 2021.

He will do so with a tribute from the fans whom he once captained, whose life changed with a headbutt in

Lisbon

and to whom he had to say goodbye almost three years ago after having "expired", according to him, the offer of renewal that the Madrid board had put on the table.

He left

Chamartín

and went to

PSG

, where he was never the same again, he lost his place in the national team and now, at

37 years old

, he is trying to recover the time and the lost relationship with Sevilla and Pizjuán.

The same stands that swore eternal hatred towards him on August 31, 2005, when at

19 years old

and after a year as a starter he accepted Madrid's offer in a delirious last week of the market.

"

My job was to get him out of Sevilla

because we believed he was up to it,"

Pedro Bravo

, his representative, recalls to EL MUNDO.

And the calls started flying.

«I remember talking to Milan's sporting director,

Ariedo Braida

, who told me: '

When I'm worth 50 million, call me

.'

I replied: 'If you don't sign it now, you'll never sign it.'

So it was".

Del Nido's refusal

When Madrid came into play, the wishes of the footballer and those around him began to become clearer.

The big problem for Pedro Bravo and René Ramos, the young player's main influence, was

José María Del Nido

, president of Sevilla.

The manager did not want to let a youth player escape, much less to the white team and even less for a figure different from his termination clause, and neither did Monchi, architect of the squad that a few years later would lift several Europa Leagues.

There Bravo appeared again: «One day, we were in Del Nido's office, the president, Monchi and I.

And

I said to Monchi: 'How do you think you can make a better team?

With Ramos and without 27 million or without Ramos and with the 27 million?'

His response helped.

Del Nido was reluctant, but at that time 27 million for a player who had barely been in the League for a year was outrageous.

But despite that, he was very tough.

At some moments it seemed that it was not done.

The "joking" with the white suit

The signing took on documentary overtones when the Spanish team gathered in Las Rozas to play a friendly and a qualifying match for the 2006 World Cup. Ramos landed in the national team's sports city with an outfit that is still remembered today: a white

suit , big black glasses, immaculate straight hair

... «I remember a lot of fun with the suit.

The veterans were a little hesitant about him, but he took it on very well,” recalls a Federation worker.

In that locker room was, among others,

Carlos Marchena

.

«Sergio is Sergio.

He is as he is he and he always has been.

That personality is what makes him different from the rest and is what has led him to win everything he has won," the former player explains to this newspaper.

The pressure that Ramos tried to apply with the white suit did not have much effect at first, because Del Nido continued to reject the

22 million

that Madrid was putting on the table at that time.

It was Monday, August 29, there were 48 hours left until the market closed and everyone around the footballers was starting to get very nervous.

The media situation in Nervión was irreducible.

«That day the 29th was very hard because it seemed that the signing was not going to happen.

"His whole family was crying in a hotel

," says Bravo.

On the 30th, nothing changed.

«I tried until the end.

And on the 30th I went to bed again thinking that it wasn't going to happen," he adds.

On the 31st, however, everything changed.

The meetings in Chamartín between

Florentino Pérez and José Ángel Sánchez

resulted in the final decision: Madrid was going to pay the clause.

The white team had just lost the League by four points against Barça, Walter Samuel

had left

for Inter in the summer and between

Woodgate, Helguera and Pavón

the center of the defense was considered very weak.

Going for a Ramos already consolidated in the First Division and in the national team sounded logical.

The petition to Luis Aragonés

The departure of

Michael Owen

to

Newcastle

accelerated the signing of the Andalusian in the last hours of the market.

«In the morning, I was in Seville and suddenly they called me from Madrid: 'Where are you?

Come here!'.

And there I stood.

“ Everything was going to close

,” recalls Bravo.

«I went to the Bernabéu and we closed the signing, but there were still the signatures and handing over the check to the League.

"I called

Luis Aragonés

, who at that time was the coach, to ask permission to enter Las Rozas and for Sergio to sign the contract, and at night we had it."

The clause remained to be made effective in the League.

«

It was René and

I.

And

we were circling the

League building to arrive at the horn, we wanted the signing to have an impact.

We had the check for 27 million and everything was very controlled.

With less than half an hour left, we went up to the League,

deposited the check, signed the agreement

with the head of registration and left.

"It was exactly at 11:47 p.m. on August 31."

The signing, logically, was a before and after for Ramos and his family.

The Camas defender went from living in a rented apartment to buying, at the age of 21,

Ronaldo Nazario

's house in

La Moraleja

when he left Madrid, in January 2007. The rest, you already know: fourth player with the most appearances in the history of Madrid (671),

five Leagues

, two Cups,

four Champions Leagues

... Statistics that force the Bernabéu to pay him a tribute tonight that is more passionate than institutional.

There will be a giant banner from the stands and a standing ovation, but nothing at club level.

His early departure to PSG left him with

22 titles

, three less than Benzema or Marcelo, two less than Nacho and Modric and one less than Gento.