Sergio Ramos: The Heir to Carles Puyol in Barcelona?

June 16th, 2010 by Nik Leighton Leave a reply »

Since joining the Spanish national team for training ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, Barcelona centre back Carles Puyol has been on a roll, fueling Spanish sporting media outlet Diario Marca  with story after story.

Starting with his future with la Furia Roja , Puyol stated that he will meet with Spanish boss Vicente del Bosque following the Spanish effort in South Africa to discuss a future role with the team, despite no intentions to dress for the squad four years from now in Brazil.

The Barça captain also had comments on the two biggest signings of the Spanish La Liga's offseason: Real Madrid's capture of Jose "The Special One" Mourinho and his own club's securing of striker David Villa.

While Puyol's musings on those two moves were far from noteworthy, as he simply praised the two men and asserted that the clubs securing their services made great decisions, his second Real Madrid-related quip has garnered quite a bit of attention.

The 32-year-old centre half suggested that his opposite number at Real Madrid and teammate in the Spanish World Cup side in Sergio Ramos would be perfect in succeeding him in the Barcelona defence come his looming retirement.

Although it is well-known that Ramos's allegiances are firmly aligned with Real Madrid, Puyol made it clear that he would strongly support a swoop for the young Spanish star by newly-inducted Barcelona president Sandro Rosell.

"I think it would be a difficult deal and Madrid would make a huge mistake to let [Ramos] go," said Puyol of the scenario. "But if he were to come to Barça he would be a great heir for me. He's a great defender."

While Puyol is correct in his statement that Ramos is a fantastic centre half, his statement that any deal involving his movement to Barça would not come without great difficulty is the most spot-on statement made in South Africa yet.

Never making fewer than 40 appearances in a single season for los Merengues , en route to an astonishing 211 features with the club since his move from Sevilla in the summer of 2005, Ramos has proved to be a key cog in the Real Madrid machine. And with no reported intention on the part of new boss Mourinho to exclude Ramos from the side, it seems that his vital role in the team will remain the status quo.

A legend in the making at the Santiago Bernabéu due to his unmatched abilities to get forward, notching 28 goals and creating 15 in the white of Real Madrid, as well as defending from the centre defence, some have suggested in the past that the vice-captain of los Blancos may be Real Madrid's next Raúl—making him untouchable to any other club, much less their hated rival in Puyol's Barcelona.

Needless to say, while not completely impossible, unless something major changes in Spain's capital over the next couple of months, Ramos is not going anywhere.

Although Puyol was simply authoring a bit of conjecture, a statement of this magnitude of outlandishness, suggesting that Barcelona should and could manage to pick up Sergio Ramos as a successor for the club's captain this summer, gives a new meaning to one of football's most aptly worded terms: "silly season."




This story was originally syndicated from Bleacher Report - Front Page.
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Posted in La Liga, Opinion, Sergio Ramos, World Football, carles puyol, real madrid

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