‘Not Easy’—Real Madrid Target for Problem Position Makes Encouraging Admission

Real Madrid could have an in-house solution to a whole host of issues in this summer’s transfer window.

Jacobo Ramón (left) and Nico Paz both have a Real Madrid-tinged past. | Piero CRUCIATTI/AFP/Getty Images

Como center back Jacobo Ramón has admitted that it was “not easy to say goodbye” to Real Madrid at a time when whispers of his potential return have emerged.

The defender grew up admiring Sergio Ramos while coming through Madrid’s academy from the age of eight. Ramón broke onto the fringes of Carlo Ancelotti’s first-team roster last term, scrounging together six appearances and a memorable stoppage-time winner against Mallorca last May.

Xabi Alonso took the 21-year-old with him to the United States for last summer’s Club World Cup, but no one stood in the way of his exit when Como came calling with the offer of €2.5 million ($2.9 million).

“Well, it’s clearly not easy to say goodbye to what was my home for so long,” Ramón reflected during an interview with Como’s official website this week. “I thought about everything—everything I’d done in Madrid, my career, and the many years I spent there—but I also felt like the right time had come to take the next step and come to Como.”

Ramón insisted that he remains “happy” at Cesc Fàbregas’s Serie A upstarts, but surely the call of Real is hard to ignore for any Madrid-born kid. Especially if those calls start increasing in volume.

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Jacobo Ramón Offers Cut-Price Solution to Real Madrid Problem

Jacobo Ramón could arrive in place of another expensive acquisition. | Emanuele Comincini/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Madrid have a center back issue. Dean Huijsen has struggled in his first year at the club, Éder Militão can’t stay fit for long enough to help out the youngster while Raúl Asencio invariably punctuates his performances with reckless moments of brain fog. David Alaba is set for an exit when his contract expires in the summer and Antonio Rüdiger could (and perhaps should) follow him out of the door.

Those exits and inefficiencies leave Madrid with a problem to fix in the transfer market. This issue was so pronounced that the club even considered breaking their reluctance to operate in January by triggering the buy-back clause in Ramón’s contract last month, per The Athletic.

Como managed to hang on to their towering defender and have reaped the rewards. Fàbregas has continued to perennially turn to his compatriot, who helped the club from the lake defeat reigning top-flight champions Napoli to reach their first Coppa Italia semifinal in 40 years.

Calm in possession and an aerial force to be reckoned with, the 6'5" Spain U21 international ticks plenty of boxes. Opta’s statistical profile of the center back offers a list of players with the most similar attributes. Intriguingly, Borussia Dortmund’s Nico Schlotterbeck, who is frequently billed as a target for Real Madrid next summer, is one of the closest matches.

Ramón would be excessively cheaper than the German international. In fact, with a fee thought to be in the region of just €8 million, Madrid could feasibly sign Schlotterbeck and the homegrown youngster. He may not be the only familiar face returning.

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Ramón The First of Many in-House Solutions for Real Madrid?

Jacobo Ramón (left) has impressed alongside Nico Paz. | Image Photo Agency/Getty Images

Ramón isn’t even the Como player most likely to return to Real Madrid. It has been widely reported that his teammate Nico Paz has already been lined up for a return in summer after agreeing to a contract with a similar buyback clause structure.

While the likes of Tottenham Hotspur and Inter have had swollen bids rebuffed in recent windows, Como would be helpless if Madrid offer as little as €9 million due to the terms of the pre-arranged agreement.

An elegant, left-footed No. 10 with an eye for goal, Paz would be a welcome addition to any team. He could be joined in Madrid by Ramón and another central midfielder.

The aforementioned Athletic report also claimed that Madrid were monitoring academy graduate Chema Andrés. The defensive midfielder hasn’t enjoyed the same regular stream of first-team minutes as his former teammates after joining Stuttgart last summer, but his qualities at controlling the ball in the middle of the pitch are in high demand in the Spanish capital.

Madrid’s search for Toni Kroos’s replacement has been as draining as it is fruitless. The failure to find a successor for Luka Modrić last summer has exacerbated the issues which already existed and will surely be addressed this year.

There has been talk of nine-digit offers for the likes of Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton, but the club may be advised to consider the return of Andrés for a fraction of the price.

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