MADRID, Spain -- Real Madrid signed Sevilla defender Sergio
Ramos to an eight-year contract only minutes before the transfer
deadline Wednesday.
Madrid finalized the deal by satisfying the $33 million buyout
clause in Ramos' contract. That made the 19-year-old Spaniard the
third-most expensive transfer of the summer, behind the Chelsea
signings Shaun Wright-Phillips and Michael Essien.
Madrid raised some of the funds for Ramos' transfer by selling
striker Michael Owen to Newcastle on Tuesday for a reported $33
million.
Ramos' signing brings Madrid's offseason spending to about $98.7
million. Its other signings were Brazil's Robinho and Julio
Baptista, and Uruguay's Pablo Garcia and Carlos Diogo.