According to recent reports, Real Madrid might be losing Sergio Ramos as the central defender has asked to be moved to Manchester United.

If Ramos leaves Madrid, the team will be suffering a massive blow. Here are five reasons why the team will miss the defender.

Defensive Brilliance

The past season was not a banner year for Sergio Ramos from a defensive standpoint. His tackles per game dropped below his career average in Spanish soccer and he was clearing the ball away less often than he has through his career. He was also getting dribbled past a lot more often than he is accustomed to (0.7 dribbles per game in La Liga during 2014-15 as opposed to a career average of 0.5 times per game).

Yet for his "regression" he remained among the top performers for Madrid and led the team in interceptions per game (2.4), was second on the side in clearances per game (3.9) and blocked more shots than any other defender on the team (0.8). He was among the top five in the league in blocks per game.

Offensive Support

Sergio Ramos finished the 2014-15 season with seven goals in all competitions, including four in La Liga. Only six other players on Real Madrid scored more goals for the team and he was the sixth highest scoring defender in the entire league.

Everyone knows that Ramos provides Real Madrid a huge advantage in the air, as exemplified by his work in Lisbon when his last second header gave the team a chance to win the Champions League.

Leadership

An intangible if there ever was one, but most people would point to Ramos as the captain of the team and the one capable of organizing it from the back.

Luka Modric and James Rodriguez went down at a fragile point in the team's season, but when Ramos went down, the defense seemingly imploded. The span of matches that he missed during February, featured two of the team's most putrid defensive efforts -- a 4-0 loss to Atletico Madrid and a 4-3 defeat against Schalke 04 in the Champions League that nearly left the team out of the competition.

With Ramos gone, the team will depend on a declining Pepe and young Raphael Varane to lead the back line, something that could prove troublesome for the elite side.