Gaston Ramirez arrived with a huge fanfare of trumpets as the club record signing and also alledgedly its highest paid player ever, its been disapointing.
The Gaston Ramirez transfer saga ran and ran as it was evident that the player himself or at least his agent were trying to use Saints as leaverage to perhaps attract what they perceived to be a bigger club coming in for him, eventually accepting that no one was going to offer as much as Saints were willing to pay, Ramirez signed for Saints virtually on deadline day.
Perhaps Saints determination to deliver what was whispered in PR terms as a marquee signing clouded their judgement, as talented as Ramirez is, the fact is Saints were paying a hell of a lot of transfer money & wages out for a player whose two seasons at Bologna had yielded 44 (15) appearances and 12 goals, statistics which are at best slightly above average.
In the early days of the sage Ramirez was often described as a wide man, this was a position that Saints desperately needed to strengthen in, when he arrived though that soon changed to a central midfielder, again worrying as having signed Steven Davis we had a plethora of those, again I would say our transfer committee took their eyes off the ball here in their quest to unveil what they saw as the marquee signing, it was all about doing this rather than concentrating on areas we really needed new blood in, the ramifications of Ramirez signing were felt not just in the centre of the park, but in other areas that had seemingly been neglected in the process, after a busy start to the window, Saints signed no one between 20th July and Gazzaniga arriving and 29th July and Mayuka, on the eve of the window shutting we were clearly panicking and it has to be perhaps considered that in doing so we persuaded Gaston to sign with wages that didnt match his ability.
Initially things looked good, his full debut against Villa saw our first win and in his second game he scored his first goal, but those up at Goodison that day saw a team that looked unbalanced and struggling to cope with a system that we didnt have the personel to play effectively.
But his Saints career stalled after these two games and he wouldnt play again due to injury for another month and when he returned things were at rock bottomafter a defeat at West Brom, but with Ramirez back we picked up a bit after that and he showed his class, notably in wins against QPR & Newcastle, but what was soon becoming clear was that for Saints at least Gaston was a luxury, he was unused to the pace of the English game and although he seemingly had no trouble completing 90 minutes in Serie A, in the Premier he struggled to last much beyond the hour point.
This was to become a recurring theme, look back at most of his starts and he is usually substituted not long after that 60 minute mark and sometimes even at half time, what also became clear was that when things were going well Gaston could turn it on, when they werent he could be a liability, unable to get his passing game together when we were on the back foot and not the type player to be able to scrap for the ball in the centre of the park.
Given that as a bottom quarter team in the Premier league for most of the season there were going to be very few games we would control, especially away from home, it seemed sometimes he was picjked because of his high fee rather than his contribution to the team, both Nigel Adkins and Pochettino seemed to feel this in the fact that both have picked him in the starting line up regularly but mostly taken him off, indeed under Pochettino Gaston has only played around a third of the minutes he could have done under the manager, OK he has been suspended for the last three games, but even taking them into accunt he still wouldnt have even played half of the time he could have done on the pitch.
His sending off was controversial, the flying elbow was uncalled for, Shane Long was harrasing him on the run, nothing more when inexplicably he elbowed him, perhaps this was frustration at the way the move has turned out, certainly he might have felt that Pochettino has not been impressed, he had only been used as a substitute in this and the previous game, against Chelsea he had not even got on the bench, indeed in the last five matches including the West Brom game he had spent a total of 194 minutes on the pitch out of the 450 he could have, for the money Saints had spent they should expect a lot more than that. Put bluntly 20 starts plus 6 as sub and only 5 goals arent what you would expect for such a big fee, although it should be noted that is about his goals per game ratio etc in Italy.
But the fans havent got on Gaston's back, they realise that he is trying, but it just isnt working, he isnt suited to either Saints way of playing or to a team that is out of neccessity going to spend a lot of its time under pressure, Pochettino had perhaps realised this and was tending to use Ramirez sparingly, realising he wasnt the player needed in a tough game, but like most managers at any club, you are under pressure to play a big marquee signing and justify why such a big fee has been paid.
So this season has been a disapointing one for everyone concerned, including Im sure Gaston himself whom I consider more to be a victim of circumstance than a player who just doesnt give a toss, we have had glimpses of brilliance, some magical moments, but to be frank they have been few and far between for a player who for the money paid should have been a player who truly influenced our games week in week out, this being the case its hard to give him any more than 6/10, he just hasnt delivered what a player of whom so much money has been spent on should have done, if we had signed him for say £3 million then perhaps he would have been value for money but at over four times that he hasnt been, the Premier has been littered with lubs who have spent big money unwisely and paid the price for that.
So what now for Gaston, there are rumours of Juventus and other Italian clubs queueing up to take him back to Serie A, certainly that would probably suit him and I put these news headlines squarely in the box marked "leaked by Agent" I see them as nothing more than his agent trying to generate interest from other clubs, the problem though will b two fold, firstly with his wages being reportably somewhere between £50 -£65k a week net, would he be likely to find that sort of salary elsewhere, I would say no, secondly would another club pay £12 million for him and again I would doubt that, Ramirez was a player whose true value was about £6 million as a promising player in his early 20's, has even that value been damaged by a poor season with Saints, again I would say it has and Saints would struggle to get that sort of bid in for him and that would bring it down to a loss of face from the club to let him go so cheaply, that would be to admit that someone has got it badly wrong in every respect.
These things all being pertinent I would say that Gaston might well be with us next season, perhaps things could turn out better, if Saints concentrate on those areas they should have last summer then we will be a better balanced side and perhaps able to control games more, that being the case it would be easier for Gaston to come in and impose himself on games, if he does then its perpetualy motion in play, the team gets better Gaston plays better, Gaston plays better the team gets better, so I wouldnt write of Gaston just yet, but as I said there are manythings at play here and ultimately what might keep him here is the very thing that bought him and that is Money !