David De Gea to Carry Heavy Burden If Both Ramos, Casillas Have to Make Way
In Madrid, AS has called it the "triangle." David De Gea, Iker Casillas and Sergio Ramos: one rising star and two Real Madrid legends; one who wants to come, one who wants to stay and one who wants to leave; a trio tangled in a complex financial and political mess in which each man's future is dependent on the others'.
De Gea is widely expected to make the move from Manchester United to the Spanish capital. Casillas, despite likely having to face a season on the sidelines if that comes to pass, has expressed his desire to stay, relayed by AS (h/t Goal). Ramos, in a dispute with the club and president Florentino Perez that's riddled with tension and distrust, has told Real Madrid he wants out, reported by the Guardian.
Under normal circumstances, all three might get their wish and have their desires satisfied harmoniously and without complication. Yet this situation is anything but normal.
Though Casillas wants to stay—he has two seasons left to run on a lucrative contract—Real Madrid want the reverse, the club having done its best to show him the exit without being seen to be forcing him through. Ramos is the opposite, wanting to depart amid dissatisfaction when the club wants otherwise. And waiting patiently is De Gea, who, now embroiled in United's counteroffer for Ramos, wants to supplant club icon Casillas but would presumably prefer to do so without San Iker still there.
"The whole thing resembles a vaudeville show with revolving doors and no one knows who's going to appear at any moment of time," wrote AS editor Alfredo Relano.
This is a situation that was already messy and uneasy when it involved just two men. Now, involving three, it's downright convoluted. De Gea is the innocent bystander who could improve Real Madrid but who faces doing so at the expense of two club legends if United get their way.
For De Gea, replacing Casillas was always going to be delicate. The longstanding Real Madrid No. 1 is a club treasure, a player who represents a revered sort of institutional purity that has become increasingly scarce both in Chamartin and around Europe.
He's a lifelong fan and youth product of Real Madrid, having been at the club since he was nine. At 16, he was plucked out of school and taken to Norway for a Champions League game. By 19, he was keeping goal in the Champions League final. In all, he's spent 16 seasons as a pillar of the first team and has collected 18 major trophies at the Bernabeu.
In a way that's difficult to fully grasp, Casillas has become a Real Madrid legend of epic proportions. As such, even amid his sharp decline, he's retained fierce support, although the adoration he is shown now is more divisive than universal. "He is not the goalkeeper he was, but the goalkeeper he was, the icon he has become, still plays," wrote ESPN FC's Sid Lowe. Thus, De Gea, if he arrives, isn't just replacing a goalkeeper; he's replacing the most venerated Madridista there is.
Now, throw in Ramos, who could possibly go the other way if Real are determined to prise De Gea from a stubborn United—remember, United don't have to sell this summer and can play hard ball if they choose.
Ramos is not quite the icon Casillas is. Born in Andalusia and a product of Sevilla, the 29-year-old and his connection to Real aren't defined by the same idealism as those of his long-time team-mate with the gloves. Yet perhaps more than any other player in Real Madrid's modern history, Ramos has come to embody the club's historical essence, madridismo.
The term madridismo is difficult to define. For some, it's founded upon values of courage, leadership, desire, humility, hard work and respect. To others, it's about the defence of the badge, never knowing when one is beaten and the perpetual pursuit of triumph. Regardless, Ramos is nearly all of those things. He's symbolic of the club's traditional identity, and his act to save Real's quest for La Decima stands as a reference point.
Ramos is a different sort of legend to Casillas, but he is a legend nonetheless. He is a player whose identity is as interlocked with the club's as anyone's.
"Ramos and Casillas embody Real Madrid's nobility," fellow club icon Raul said in March in an interview with Panenka (h/t Marca). "[They] really get what it means."
That's what all of this could possibly mean for De Gea, arriving at the Bernabeu at the expense of two of Real Madrid's three most iconic figures of the modern era amid a frenzied exchange of cash. "It's the worst scenario and I'm not sure if there are any better propositions," noted Relano.
It's a harsh reality for De Gea. The burden would be heavy. Though the young Spaniard is an outstanding goalkeeper, a precocious talent who's still rising, it's often said that replacing one legend is impossible.
Try replacing two.
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