Real Madrid's Sergio Ramos Putting Together Unconventional Push for New Contract

It's often said that a player pushing for a new contract is a dangerous player. For the guy in question, the stakes are higher—the rewards are greater. 

It's why such players are often a threat—a threat to the opposition. Professional footballers, like all elite athletes, are driven individuals as they are. Triumph, the chase for it, is typically enough as it is. Throw in incentives relating to remuneration, job security and stability in one's personal life—things we all look for in our professional endeavours—and you have a cocktail that drives most players to new heights.

It's a familiar story.  

But Real Madrid's Sergio Ramos is not like most players. He's a defender whose primary inclination is to attack. He's a gambler, not a percentages man. He's impulsive rather than orthodox. 

Given his position and responsibilities, Ramos is unconventional. Brilliant but unconventional. And his push for a new contract in the Spanish capital is proving to be just the same since speculation regarding his future began late last year.

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Consider Ramos' recent form. It's been a wild flurry of extremes.

As Real Madrid captured the Club World Cup in Morocco in December, the Spaniard scored in both the semi-final and the final as Carlo Ancelotti's men brushed aside Cruz Azul and San Lorenzo on the way to their fourth title of 2014. In doing so, he continued his staggering run of form in front of goal in critical encounters (he scored six times in Real's final seven games last season—a striker-style hit rate). 

In his very next game, he was soundly beaten in the air from a corner as Nicolas Otamendi powerfully headed home a winner for Valencia at the Mestalla.

Next up was the first leg of the Copa del Rey clash with Atletico Madrid. In another night of contrast, Ramos had a bullet header saved by Jan Oblak before he wrestled Raul Garcia to the ground to concede a decisive penalty to the home side.

Up, down. Up, down. And it's continued.  

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When Diego Simeone's Atletico visited the Bernabeu for the second leg of the round-of-16 tie, the 28-year-old began the game by thumping home a headed goal from Toni Kroos' free-kick after Fernando Torres' early strike for the visitors. Not long after, his dreadful pass from deep in his own half found Antoine Griezmann and eventually gifted Torres his second. 

In the two games that followed, Ramos' defensive attentiveness wavered again. At Getafe, he was caught off-guard as Alex Felip's cross found Alvaro Vazquez, whose shot hit the right post. And in Cordoba, he conceded a penalty and allowed the effervescent Bebe and Fede Cartabia to run by him far too often for comfort. 

The latest instalment? Yet another powerful goal, this time in the 4-1 victory over Real Sociedad at the Bernabeu on Saturday. 

It means his recent stretch reads: eight games, four goals, two penalties against, a gift to Torres and four notable one-on-one duels in which he's come away second best.

Up, down. Up, down. 

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Whereas contract negotiations can often spur the world's elite to periods of sustained excellence—regularly followed by a quieter period once the new agreement is reached as the stakes have levelled out again—Ramos is experiencing a stretch that's oscillating from one end of the performance spectrum to the other as he plays for a new deal. 

The higher stakes, the greater rewards, have accentuated the scope of the outcomes from his spontaneous game. He's heightened the sense of how unconventional he is. His brilliance and his flaws are extremely unique. 

For his part, he appears outwardly confident that a new contract will eventually be agreed upon when the time is right: "I do not believe there will be any type of problem to reach an agreement," Ramos told El Larguero (h/t ESPN FC) in December.

He was just as cool when pressed on the matter again on Saturday.  

"We have not talked to the club about any extension," the defender told a news conference after the victory over Real Sociedad, per Real Madrid's official website. "I have two years left and I am happier than ever because I cannot imagine myself in any other shirt apart from this one."

Now into his 10th season at the Bernabeu, most of those watching on would also find it difficult to imagine Ramos in anything other than Real's gleaming white kit. After scoring the goal that kept alive the club's hunt for La Decima, his status borders on iconic.

Ramos is a unique and distinctive character in the Spanish capital. And his push for a new contract is proving to be just the same.