After helping his team to their latest victory, Real Madrid stalwart Sergio Ramos has rubbished rumours of a contract dispute and insisted he expects to stay at the Bernabeu for the rest of his career.
Ramos pounced on a loose ball inside the penalty area to give his team the lead in Saturday's 4-1 victory over Real Sociedad, and after the game he rejected recent reports that he has turned down the offer of a contract extension in the hope of being offered a bigger pay rise.
The battle-hardened defender, who moved to Madrid in 2005 after starting his career with Sevilla, signed a six-year deal with Los Blancos in the summer of 2011 and he claims to be relaxed about the timing of another new contract.
"I would like to clarify this: it does not bother me," he said. "For me there is no hurry — I still have two years on my contract."
Ramos also moved to quash suggestions that he is being represented in contract negotiations by an entourage of agents, instead saying that he will directly deal with the club rather than using third parties to act on his behalf.
"Neither my camp, which is myself, nor anyone else have contacted the club. They know that I am very happy and that I want to continue for a long time here.
"I don't see myself wearing a shirt other than this one."
Ramos is well established as one of the best goal-scoring defenders in the game, having surpassed 50 career goals for Madrid earlier this season, and his strike on Saturday was another demonstration of his penalty box prowess.
The 28-year-old has now netted six goals this season, one fewer than his best-ever tally of seven goals in a campaign which he registered last year, and he needs just five more to level with Madrid legend Roberto Carlos for third place in La Liga's all-time goal-scoring defenders' chart.
And he was pleased with his team's response to falling behind to a first minute goal from Sociedad's Aritz Elustondo, with James Rodriguez equalising almost immediately before Ramos gave Madrid the lead before the interval.
"Despite conceding an early goal, the positive thing is that the team knew how to respond well, quickly and turn the score around," he said.
"We once again saw a good performance from the team, dominating and playing effectively up the field."
The strong display saw Madrid bounce back from a poor showing in the previous weekend's win at Cordoba, and Ramos is now aiming for high standards to be maintained, adding: "Sometimes you make mistakes in football and we have to use that to improve and grow as a team."
