A few days ago Gaston Ramirez looked to be leaving the club for Spain albeit on loan, but suddenly Saints lack of transfer activity could provide an unexpected chance for the Uruguayan.
Gaston Ramirez has talent, no one has ever denied that, however what he has failed to do at the club so far is convince his previous two managers that he can fit into their team structure and right up to this week it looked like he was going to be only remembered at St Mary's as an expensive folly.
But as they say when one door shuts, another one opens and with Spurs refusing to play ball with Saints over Andros Townsend suddenly Ronald Koeman has to look a bit closer at his squad and look to try and plug the gaps from those already at the club.
Under Mauricio Pochettino's high tempo pressing game regime, Ramirez did not get a lot of chances, last season he started only 3 league games plus 15 from the bench usually of fairly short duration, however with Koeman employing a less frantic system this could suit Ramirez more and could finally be the opportunity to shine at St Mary's.
Koeman seems to e an admirer and feels that the player has an ability to play in several roles, something that the Dutchman likes in a player.
"He’s a very good player because I know him, I see him in the training sessions but he had a big problem. He missed two times in a week in the first six or seven weeks of the season and then you are always back with your physical way and your football way and you need time for that.
"Little by little now I hope he will continue fit and in a good shape because there is no doubt about his quality.
"He can play in my opinion in three positions — in the left wing position, the right wing position and as a number ten behind the striker with a lot of freedom which he needs.
"He’s a player like Tadic, you can’t say stay wide and keep wide, they need movement, they need freedom to play.
"The problem is he wasn’t in the physical 100 per cent and now little by little he will be and then he will start playing.”
Football is a confidence game and players like to feel they are wanted by the manager, under Nigel Adkins there was always the feeling that the player was forced upon him by Nicola Cortese and that there was not really a place in the system for Ramirez, as mentioned when Pochettino took over the pace of his game was much faster and not suited to him, indeed towards the end of the first months under Pochettino you could see the frustration in Ramirez when he was sent off for against West Brom.
Now though and the chance is suddenly there and the question is whether Ramirez can grab it, certainly everything is now there to help him do so, Ramirez is a passer of the ball, up till now his talent was wasted, his target was Rickie Lambert, but the problem was Lambert was not a channel runner, he did not want those defence splitting through balls, so Ramirez would have to keep passing it short, now with Pelle and Long in the squad, the outlet is there for those type of balls and Ramirez now has the time to flourish on the ball and pick passes.
Hopefully this will be the reboot of his career with the club, up till now he has been the perfect pro, unlike his fellow marque signing Osvaldo there has never been the hint of throwing his toys out of the pram and being a bad influence on the squad, Gaston has simply got his head down and despite the fact it must have been soul destroying, when called upon he has tried his best, perhaps now he may get his just rewards and maybe Saints fans will see why we paid so much for him on a more regular basis.
If this happens then it will be like a new signing and perhaps we will save ourselves £12 million or so.