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Ramirez Coul be Off To Spain
Thursday, 28th Aug 2014 08:32

Gaston Ramirez has had a miserable couple of years at Southampton Football Club, but that could be about to end, albeit temporarily.

Gaston Ramirez was saints first fabled "marque"signing, a player purchased for a fee far above his actual value and paid wages far and above his worth just so the Club could prove that it could spend money.

The truth is that he was never a player that was going to fit into our playing system and for our then record fee of £12 million we got a player who has started just over a quarter of the Premier League matches he could have done with around the same substitute appearances scoring 6 goals along the way.

There have been glimpses of his talent, but that is all they have been glimpses.

The only real positive thing about this folly has been that the player himself has in the main been nothing but professional and has quietly got on with his job when called upon as he did on Tuesday in his cameo appearance against Millwall in the Carling Cup.

The real truth is he never fitted Saints style of play either under Nigel Adkins or Mauticio Pochettino and now under new boss Ronald Koeman even less of an opportunity remains given the midfielders Koeman has signed.

Now it looks like Saints are trying to offload the player on loan to Sevilla according to the press, this will of course be beneficial to Ramirez himself who can try and kick start his club career, as well as to Saints who can recoup some money.

The problem is though that like Osvaldo our previous Chairman sanctioned wages far in excess of the players worth, he had to dangle a big carrot in order to persuade the player to come to St Mary's and ultimately it is this millstone round our necks, Ramirez is on far too much money for a permanent transfer to be attractive for him, I don't blame him here, he was offered a fortune, why should he throw it away.

But a loan move for him will still cost Saints, Sevilla will be unwilling to pay all of his reputed £65k a week wages, so would probably only pay a proportion of that, so we as a club will possible have to pay around 2/3 of his salary for him to play for another club at the same time as seeing his potential transfer fee decline as his contract goes into its final two years.

As I say I don't blame the player himself, he has been nothing but professional, but it does show that when we arrived in the Premier league, those responsible for transfers did not really do a good job, the occasional success was tempered by overpriced signings as well as some absolute howlers like Mayuka and Forren, both of which have cost us a few bob.

Good luck to Gaston Ramirez if he goes to Spain, a very talented player, but sadly I dont think it will be Saints who truly benefit from his skills.

Photo: Action Images



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brady100 added 09:44 - Aug 28
I believe it's a mistake letting him go. Given that we will be paying mots of his wages and are unable to recoup much of our initial investment, we may as well try and be the club that kick starts his career. Early signs show we could struggle for goals this season, particularly from midfield. Whilst I haven't always been Gaston’s biggest fan, frustrating though he has been, I had hoped he would enjoy a fresh start under Koeman and begin to justify his hefty price tag and fulfil his undoubted potential.
5

REEDYREEDOREEDZ added 10:23 - Aug 28
This is a strange one. Why let him go? The thing we are desperate for is some attacking creativity, especially when playing at home. If we can give him a run in the team who knows what he can produce. When was the last time he started 4 or 5 games in a row? Never?
4

montecristo added 11:03 - Aug 28
seems another crazy decision to me. We need his invention, in my opinion he should start every game. I am not a huge fan of Davis and id sooner have Gaston in the side at his expense. No news of new signings either and the last one Long was rather less than inspiring.
1

thegeneral added 11:35 - Aug 28
As already stated if we have to pay 2/3 of his wages why not have him in the squad. Wanyama, Cork, Davis, Ward Prowse and Spiderman (to a lesser extent) are all pretty defensive and don't have much flair or attacking threat. I'd like to see Gaston given a good run in the side. Either way great attitude from him and wish him well.
3

ExiledSupporter added 11:36 - Aug 28
I had initially thought he would be played as a No. 10 behind a pair of strikers ie. in the hole, but it soon became clear that neither Adkins (who had no say in his arrival) nor Pochettino felt they needed that role.

Like others I had thought he would get his chance again with the sale of Lallana, but that seemed unlikely once Tadic was arrived, even though my early impression was that the latter would play on the left side of midfield (I suppose that still remains to be made clear)

As you say another huge waste of money given that GR represented our most expensive misfit (through no fault of his own) at the time.

This was indeed a case of Cortese and Reed doing their own thing while ignoring the manager's priorities.

Again I rather feel that while Pelle and Tadic are clearly RoKo's I fear that he has been persuaded that Long and perhaps Gardos ( inevitably waiting to make my mind up on him) are good signings by Reed. Would I be right in guessing that RoKo has little say in the fees paid and that this is between Reed and the Chairman with the latter perhaps giving far too much latitude to Reed despite his unimpressive record and blatantly wasteful expenditure

I reckon that the record looks like this

Players "sponsored" by Reed:
Ramirez (poor value for money), Wanyama (expensive but looks good); Lovren (good and excellent return on investment); Mayuka (total waste of cash, not rated by 2 out of 3 managers), Forren (poor signing, perhaps no great loss in cash term, luckily); Yoshida (Ok signing but at best a squad player, if we hadn't spent so much on Ramirez we could have bought a much more reliable centre back and done without Yoshida); Boruc (good deal); Forster (looks the part)

PLayers "sponsored" by Adkins:
Sharpe (excellent in the short term) Davis (really good acquisition for next to nothing), Forte (oh dear, but low cost); Jack Cork (really valuable player for us, please don't sell now); Rodriguez (very good with real potential); Hooiveld (did a good job for us at an important stage of our evolution - can't decide whether he should be in Adkins or Reed's role of dishonour?)

Players "sponsored" byPochettino:
Osvaldo (what more remains to be said!)

PLayers "sponsored" by RoKo:
Pelle (uncertain start); Tadic (looks v. capable); Bertrand (good start, could have been Reed nomination)); Tadir (not sure who was responsible for his arrival, I suspect Reed but no evidence yet of his value, tho' surprised that he hasn't yet appeared, does this suggest that he wasn't really RoKo's man), still he is only on loan so no great harm done. Clearly Alderweild and Clasie if they do arrive are RoKo's options

I hope I haven't missed anyone significant here.

All in all Reed's performance has been expensively hit and miss and doesn't foster confidence in his judgement in terms of priorities, quality or price...he should be thrown out if either Long or Gardos fail, that will be one flop too many.

I think we have also missed out on players...too many to mention that perhaps Reed should bear some responsibility for.
0

VeloSaint added 12:39 - Aug 28
All this nonsense about who signed who is simply designed to fit facts to an argument, usually an anti Reed or Cortese one... dull and pointless.

As for Ramirez, he has never looked like he could last 90 mins regularly in the Prem, why keep a player who could only be relied on for 60 mins at best and that's when he's available, missed too many games through injury or internationals? If there is a deal on the table that works for club and player then get it done. Sure on his day he is a talent but the negatives outweigh the positives. Koemans post match comments said it all on Weds, he didn't want to risk Ramirez until we got the second goal. Talented but ultimately a liability.
-1

BoondockSaint added 15:02 - Aug 28
This is one guy I didn't want to see go-he's never had a proper chance or run of 5-10 games. When he did get in, it always looked like he was a mental step ahead of everyone else on the team and they needed to adjust to him. I though him and Tadic might do a bit of magic.
He's always been a class act, never whinged or thrown his toys. Remember when he scored the goal and gave his shirt to that kid? What a different attitude compared to the other ones that just go on an ego run, kissing the badge (while their heads are at other teams).
Give this guy a chance! If they want to save money, get rid of the dead wood (see players listed above)! Why get rid of him, and court a problem like Townshend?
Having said that, if he wants to go, he deserves to because he has always been a decent bloke, and I wish him well.
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