[Sport] Ramos' is a complicated replacement, Madrid had 'forgotten' the central market

[#Steeven.™]

There was a time, in the first stage of Florentino Pérez at the helm of Real Madrid, in which the center of the defense became a headache. The succession of Fernando Hierro, the banner of the three Champions League between 1998 and 2002, opened a wound with a complicated suture. Paco Pavón gave name to a philosophy that sought to dominate football with homegrown players at the back and superstars at the top. Those were the days of Mejia, Rubén or even Raúl Bravo as central. He went wrong.

In the summer of 2004 the plan was changed. Walter Samuel arrived from Rome in exchange for 25 million euros, and Woodagte did it from Newcastle (18.3). The two, between one thing and another, were a disaster.

So much so that a year later Madrid returned to the market to look for a defender. He was going to face one of the best signings in his history, Sergio Ramos. What seemed a madness of 30 million euros for a kid with hardly any flight in the elite, is today an exemplary operation. He was a right back, not a center back, although the coaches pointed out that this could be the natural evolution.

However, Florentino gave up at the end of January 2006 and resigned due to poor results. He left many things at the club, including a seed defender for a glorious future.

Pepe's arrival
Until the return of Florentino in the summer of 2009, the white club looked for centrals, because Ramos for more than five years was Madrid's No. 2. Cannavaro (7 million), Heinze (12), Garay (10) and, above all, Pepe (30) arrived. That, the Portuguese, was another great investment.

From Varane to Militao, only Vallejo
After his return, the center of the defense has not been a delicate area when going to the market. In the first two seasons he signed Albiol (15 million) and Carvalho (8). In the third, in the summer of 2011, he faced an almost anonymous operation: 10 million for a young Frenchman named Varane. It was the signing with which Madrid was going to cook a trio of centrals that would dominate Europe: Ramos-Pepe-Varane.

Between 2011 and 2019, the only investment in plants that Madrid made was that of Vallejo: five million to Zaragoza. Pepe left in 2017, but by then Zidane already knew that the youth squad Nacho was capable of getting ahead on any stage.

Time passes and Madrid have known since they must work on what the team will be without Ramos. Not because of a question of performance, that Sergio's has been maintained if it is not that he has gone to more, but because it is a requirement of the club, to prepare for the future. That was the idea with Militao, a center on which good reports rained from Porto. That is why there was no hesitation in paying 50 million for the Brazilian. A year and a half later he is the central quarter, he has not played since October 31 and his games do not give to sustain that the future of the white defense can pass on him.

That, together with the uncertainty of the immediate future of Ramos, makes Madrid comb a market, that of the centrals, to which they did not pay much attention. At the head of the opportunity with Alaba and Pau Torres. They can put an end to that unwritten law that says that Florentino's Madrid does not sign left-handed centrals.