Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos looks set to leave the club in due course.

The Spaniard's contract expires in the summer and there appears to be no progress being made with regards to the 34-year-old signing a new deal.

Ramos' departure will be a bitter blow for the Spanish giants, as he's still comfortably the team's best defender.

Real Madrid just won't be the same without him and it begs the question; why have they not done all they can to keep him?

Well, the club's precarious financial situation has not exactly helped matters, as they apparently cannot afford to continue paying Ramos his current salary.

The Covid-19 pandemic has done significant damage and as reported by AS, one of the other reasons is because they're resigned to the fact that they will have to hand Gareth Bale his enormous €30m annual salary for another year.

That's right, the Welshman's wages could play a significant part in Real Madrid's captain, who's provided 15 years of world-class service, leaving the club.

Bale is currently on-loan at Tottenham Hotspur and he's failed to deliver on his return to the English club, which means the chances of a permanent move to north London are slim to none.

It really is a complex situation Real Madrid find themselves in.

They will retain hope that Ramos will remain loyal to the club he joined way back in 2005 and accept a pay cut in order to fund the wages of a non-active Bale.

But in the likely event that he doesn't and opts to leave, they will need to sign a replacement and Los Blancos will struggle immensely to find a player worthy of filling the void left by Ramos who won't command a salary equal to or greater than what the Spaniard is currently on.

Bayern Munich's David Alaba has been linked with a move to the Spanish capital, but according to Goal, the Austrian has demanded a higher wage than Ramos.

It's all getting a bit messy at the Bernabeu...