Madrid, Aug 7: Real Madrid skipper Sergio Ramos has hinted at his retirement in a cryptic manner along with a suggestion about who could be the next Los Blancos captain, in an Instagram post of teammate Lucas Vazquez.

Real Madrid played against Juventus on last Saturday in a pre-season friendly and Ramos produced an interesting reaction on his Instagram to Lucas Vazquez captaining the team in his absence.

Vazquez replacing Gareth Bale in the 47th-minute against Juventus in the game was handed the captain's armband and Madrid won the game 3-1. After the game, the Real Madrid academy product posted a picture on Instagram of himself captaining Real, with the message: "We keep getting rhythm."

Karim Benzema first left the message 'capi' and or "captain" which seemed to catch Ramos' attention and subsequently the 32-year-old Spanish defender could not hold his sentiment to praise the player and tipped him to be in the running for the permanent skipper position, along with two other Spanish team-mates Nacho and Carvajal.

Sergio Ramos commenting on Vazquez’s post on Instagram of him wearing the captain’s armband against Juventus: “I only have four little years left until I leave the armband.. (Nacho, Carva...)” pic.twitter.com/EXstveBgbt

— SB (@Realmadridplace) August 5, 2018

He commented: "You only have four years left and I leave you the armband (Nacho, Carva...)"

It could be a case that Ramos is merely having some fun with one of his closest friends and teammates, though there's probably more that can be made of his comments.

His cryptic comments assumedly suggested that the player will leave his pole position only after four years and with Ramos already 32 years old, at the age 36 years his retirement from football makes sense.

Ramos has been a mainstay in the Real's defensive third since moving to the Bernabeu from Sevilla in 2005 and is rated as one of the finest defenders of this generations

He has won 19 trophies in his 13 seasons in the Spanish capital, including four La Liga and four Champions league titles.

He is now expected to be seen again in Real jersey on their season up and running against rivals Atletico Madrid on August 15 in the European Super Cup, before starting the league season vs Getafe the following Sunday.