Manchester United's £35million bid for Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos has been rejected, but revised offer is already being considered
Madrid informed Ramos of their decision when chief executive Jose Angel Sanchez met the player and his representatives for summit talks at the club's Valdebebas training headquarters.
Ramos, 29, left for a holiday telling the club that he wants his future resolved by the time the squad meet on July 10 before Real's tour to Australia and China.
Real, too, do not want the early stages of new coach Rafael Benitez's tenure overshadowed by a row with one of their top players.
Ramos is upset that he is being undervalued and has indicated he wants to move to Old Trafford rather than use United's interest to negotiate new terms on his contract.
It is understood that he earns a net salary of £4m-a-year at the Bernabeu and wants improved terms of £6.5m. United are said to be ready to offer him a deal worth £7.8m to move to Old Trafford.
They are now considering a revised bid, having made a cash offer to Madrid that did not include goalkeeper David de Gea.
The Spaniards have been strongly linked with De Gea for some time but have yet to make a formal approach for him.
United are also understood to be putting together a bid for Southampton midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin, to ward off interest from Arsenal and Tottenham.
Wayne Rooney is confident Manchester United will challenge for the Premier League title next season, particularly with a couple of new signings.
‘I honestly believe we will go far next year and won’t be far off challenging for the league,’ Rooney said on his official website.
‘If you look at the first 10 to 11 games we only had around 13 points, and if you look at where we finished I think it shows we could have been up there with a better start.
‘We’ve dominated and outplayed most teams this season but haven’t taken our chances to win those games, it could have been a different story if we had.
‘The most important thing is that as a squad, including the manager and myself, we believe we are close to challenging for the title and with a couple of signings we will have a good chance of doing that.
‘It would be good to win as many cups as possible, a club like Manchester United should be winning trophies and hopefully next season we can put that right.’
Rooney admits last season was another disappointment for United having failed to mount a title challenge and finishing empty-handed but added that missing out of the top four would have been a ‘disaster’.
He added: ‘Our main target this year was to get back into the top four, and we have done that so in that sense it’s not bad at all.
‘You have to realise that at the start of the season we had a new manager, new coaches and a lot of new players, so it was always going to be a tough ask for us to go and win the Premier League.
‘It was a bit disappointing not to win any silverware, especially the FA Cup after the defeat to Arsenal in the quarter-finals; we had a great chance of going on to win that.
‘After last season it would have been a disaster if we didn’t get that Champions League spot, but the main thing is that the club is now back where it belongs.’
Barcelona’s hopes of signing Angel di Maria will be hindered by a clause in his deal that means he can’t return to Spain for less than £85.5million.
The Argentina international is unhappy in Manchester but United have no desire to sell and the player has vowed to stay and fight on as United prepare for a return to the Champions League.
Bayern Munich admire the 27-year-old but have made a move for Chelsea target Douglas Costa from Shakhtar Donetsk, while Barcelona have constantly been linked but, it is understood, when he was sold to United that Real Madrid asked for an option to be inserted which means any return to their proposed rivals in Spain would cost 120m euros — currently £85.5m.
Madrid informed Ramos of their decision when chief executive Jose Angel Sanchez met the player and his representatives for summit talks at the club's Valdebebas training headquarters.
Ramos, 29, left for a holiday telling the club that he wants his future resolved by the time the squad meet on July 10 before Real's tour to Australia and China.
Real, too, do not want the early stages of new coach Rafael Benitez's tenure overshadowed by a row with one of their top players.
Ramos is upset that he is being undervalued and has indicated he wants to move to Old Trafford rather than use United's interest to negotiate new terms on his contract.
It is understood that he earns a net salary of £4m-a-year at the Bernabeu and wants improved terms of £6.5m. United are said to be ready to offer him a deal worth £7.8m to move to Old Trafford.
They are now considering a revised bid, having made a cash offer to Madrid that did not include goalkeeper David de Gea.
The Spaniards have been strongly linked with De Gea for some time but have yet to make a formal approach for him.
United are also understood to be putting together a bid for Southampton midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin, to ward off interest from Arsenal and Tottenham.
Wayne Rooney is confident Manchester United will challenge for the Premier League title next season, particularly with a couple of new signings.
‘I honestly believe we will go far next year and won’t be far off challenging for the league,’ Rooney said on his official website.
‘If you look at the first 10 to 11 games we only had around 13 points, and if you look at where we finished I think it shows we could have been up there with a better start.
‘We’ve dominated and outplayed most teams this season but haven’t taken our chances to win those games, it could have been a different story if we had.
‘The most important thing is that as a squad, including the manager and myself, we believe we are close to challenging for the title and with a couple of signings we will have a good chance of doing that.
‘It would be good to win as many cups as possible, a club like Manchester United should be winning trophies and hopefully next season we can put that right.’
Rooney admits last season was another disappointment for United having failed to mount a title challenge and finishing empty-handed but added that missing out of the top four would have been a ‘disaster’.
He added: ‘Our main target this year was to get back into the top four, and we have done that so in that sense it’s not bad at all.
‘You have to realise that at the start of the season we had a new manager, new coaches and a lot of new players, so it was always going to be a tough ask for us to go and win the Premier League.
‘It was a bit disappointing not to win any silverware, especially the FA Cup after the defeat to Arsenal in the quarter-finals; we had a great chance of going on to win that.
‘After last season it would have been a disaster if we didn’t get that Champions League spot, but the main thing is that the club is now back where it belongs.’
Barcelona’s hopes of signing Angel di Maria will be hindered by a clause in his deal that means he can’t return to Spain for less than £85.5million.
The Argentina international is unhappy in Manchester but United have no desire to sell and the player has vowed to stay and fight on as United prepare for a return to the Champions League.
Bayern Munich admire the 27-year-old but have made a move for Chelsea target Douglas Costa from Shakhtar Donetsk, while Barcelona have constantly been linked but, it is understood, when he was sold to United that Real Madrid asked for an option to be inserted which means any return to their proposed rivals in Spain would cost 120m euros — currently £85.5m.
