The Manchester United target Sergio Ramos has told Real Madrid he wants to leave. The Spain international defender held a meeting with Madrid’s chief executive, José Ángel Sánchez, on Wednesday morning and confirmed his intention to depart after 10 years at the Bernabéu. The Spain international asked the club to listen to offers with United having signalled their intention to sign the defender late last week.

Although Madrid did not provide the standard response, which is to demand that any interested clubs meet the €180m (£128m) buyout clause, and agreed that they will entertain bids, they will set the bar prohibitively high – initially, at least.

Neither Ramos, 29, nor Madrid have made any public statement but privately their positions are now clear. Ramos arrived at the Valdebebas training ground a little before 10am and departed without talking to the media. The previous day he had visited his lawyer in central Madrid.

Madrid’s willingness to entertain offers does represent some movement, and suggests that they would not mind selling if the conditions are right, while the strained relationship between the player and the president Florentino Pérez makes brokering a lasting peace at the club difficult.

Goalkeeper David De Gea, 24, is also a factor in any negotiations, with United able to use Madrid’s interest as leverage. A swift resolution is unlikely but it is clear the defender is prepared to leave after playing more than 400 games for the club.

Despite Manchester United informing them of their interest in Ramos and reports in Spain of them making an offer, Madrid have claimed not to have received any bids. United informed Real Madrid of their desire to sign Ramos in a meeting at which Madrid had hoped to make progress on an agreement to sign De Gea.

Neither side backed down on Wednesday on a potential contract renewal at the Bernabéu. Madrid have made no move towards reconciliation or a renewed offer for Ramos to extend his current ¤6m-a-year deal (£4.3m) which expires in 2017. Nor did Ramos say that he was prepared to reopen negotiations which have been at a stalemate for some months now. Madrid made an improved offer to take the vice-captain’s salary to around ¤7.5m but Ramos wanted closer to ¤10m, according to reports in Spain. Unless there are significant changes in the positions of both player and club, this issue appears to have moved beyond a simple battle over a new contract.

This has become a battle played out through the press. The sports daily AS, which is critical of Pérez, reported that Ramos had made up his mind he wanted to leave. On the other side of the divide, the newspaper La Razón, which is close to Pérez, demanded that he “respect the badge!” Ramos, has been accused of being a money-grabber by the pro-Pérez press, which has only deepened the sense of mutual distrust.