What makes a good CB partnership and why Ramos doesn't fit United

By Rhys James, published on 19/06/21

In recent days it has become clear Real Madrid legend Sergio Ramos will leave the Bernabeu in search of a new club. As usual with United, a big player moving clubs has fuelled speculation of a transfer to the red devils. Although it seems unlikely I thought it would be interesting to at least discuss the prospect of it happening and whether or not it would make sense.

Firstly the positives are very clear, Ramos is incredibly experienced and he knows exactly what it takes to succeed at the top level; his personality and winning mentality would be great to have in the squad that’s still rebuilding it’s winning culture. He’s still a great player too, make no mistake about that, he'd go straight into the starting XI alongside Harry Maguire.

But that’s where the problems begin to present themselves, is Ramos and Maguire a sensible and balanced enough center back partnership? When thinking about this we need to ask ourselves multiple questions, Is there enough aerial ability in the pairing? Certainly. Is there enough defensive talent, leadership and ball playing ability? Definitely. But you also need to think about pace; while formerly known as a quick defender Ramos, at 35, isn’t really that anymore. Maguire has never been known as one, in fact he’s slower than average.

We already have a problem with speed at the back and signing Ramos would inflate it, meaning we’d have to play a deeper defensive line to cope, making our pressing less effective and with the amount quick forwards in the Premier League like Jamie Vardy, Mo Salah and countless others, its easily exploitable. We don’t want to be changing our style in this way, our current system is clear and Ramos would needlessly make things more complicated for us.

Also when selecting a suitable CB partnership you ideally want one defender who steps out of the defence to block passes and make tackles, while having another defender who sits back to sweep up through balls and cover the other defender. Although Lindelöf also isn't the ideal partner for our captain, he does this covering role quite well for example. Both Ramos and Maguire are the stepping out type which isn't what we want.

There’s also the factor of Ramos’ injury record recently, the Spaniard had seven separate injuries across last season. At his age this seems like the start of consistent injury problems which are expected of players who’ve been playing for so long. We’ve already had to deal with another very talented center back’s injury problems in Eric Bailly and we know how frustrating that’s been. There’s no point in trying to build a partnership if one of the players isn't available consistently, especially when Ramos would likely demand at least £250k a week

So despite how glamorous Sergio Ramos to United might look on paper (And I'm sure some people would laugh at the fact I don't want him), we need to look at things objectively without just thinking about who he is. There are much better options like, also from Los Blancos, Rafael Varane, who would offer a lot of winning experience as well as fitting Maguire like a glove; Pau Torres is another good, more long term option. Whichever one we choose, if either, I'm glad it looks like Ole isn't interested in Ramos.