- Sergio Ramos presented opportunity to move to Africa
- Real Madrid legend a free agent since leaving Sevilla in summer
- Financial aspects holding up 38-year-old's proposed move
Real Madrid legend Sergio Ramos has been offered a surprising opportunity to extend his illustrious career by five-time CAF Champions League winners Zamalek.
Cairo-based Zamalek are among the heavyweights of Egyptian football, 14-time national champions and runners-up on another 34 occasions over the years. They have also won 28 Egypt Cups, including seven in the last 12 seasons alone.
But their continental heyday back came in the 1980s and 1990s, while they finished a distant third in the recently concluded 2024 edition of the Egyptian Premier League.
38-year-old Ramos left Sevilla at the end of the 2023/24 campaign in Spain but is seemingly not ready to hang up his boots just yet, with his services having been offered to clubs on his behalf.
"Some agents and mediators offered the possibility," Ahmed Shawky, Zamalek's media coordinator explained to ESPN. "Of course, Sergio Ramos is a fantastic player who won everything with Real Madrid and Spain. He would be a massive player for any side in the Middle East or Africa."
The biggest obstacle at this stage has been the player's salary expectations, preventing Zamalek – and presumably other interested clubs – from being able to strike a deal.
A Zamalek director, Hani Shoukry, recently told a local broadcaster that Ramos "agreed to play in Egypt" but that "financial aspects" are the "main reason for not completing the deal".
Shawky added: "There's nothing concrete so far, and the player is highly valued financially. We also have to bear in mind that Zamalek have also signed other centre-backs recently. [But] it would be a massive boost for Egyptian football, [and] more prestige for Zamalek and the league."
Ramos made 671 appearances for Real Madrid between 2005 and 2021, scoring 101 goals. He won La Liga on five occasions, as well as four UEFA Champions League titles, before a spell at Paris Saint-Germain and a return to boyhood club Sevilla. With Spain, he played 180 times, a national team record, and won the two European Championships either side of the World Cup in 2010.
