It was a surprise to see Gaston Ramirez pull on a Saints shirt again at MK Dons, Ronald Koeman has revealed the reasoning behind it and whether Ramirez will play again.
Gaston Ramirez has become the forgotten man of Southampton Football Club, he spen most of last season on loan at Hull City where an injury ravaged season meant he had little impact there. The problem is for Gaston though is he is on such big money at Saints it is difficult to off load him off the wage bill and no one can blame the player for being unwilling to take what would be a massive cut in wages to leave.
Why he arrived in the first place is still a mystery football wise, yes we all can now look back with wisdom on it, but t the time on this site I questioned where he would fit into the way that we were going to play back then.
As he showed at MK Dons Ramirez is a passer of the ball, he needs an outlet for those passes, he is not a worker so if you don't have anyone for him to pass to then you might as well play someone like Steven Davis who can work had tackle and pass it twenty yards, not a criticism of Davis just a fact.
Back then Ramirez had no one running the channels, Rickie Lambert does not have pace and that left Ramirez redundant, looking back you ave to question why we signed him, he did not fit what we needed in the side, in short h was an ego trip for our former Chairman to make a statement to the fans that he could spend the £12 million it took to get Ramirez here and the £alleged £60k a week wages.
At MK Dons Ramirez had an outlet, Jay Rodriguez, Shane Long and Juanmi can all run on to through balls, it would have been interesting to see what Mane could have done if he had not been the one that Ramirez replaced.
So does he have a future at the club ? Ronald Koeman answered that question yesterday.
"He is a player who likes to take freedom on the pitch,”
"I say always to the players take freedom out of your position. What he did yesterday was different than sometimes when he played (as he played with discipline).
"He played more from the right and then he can go in. That’s the freedom that every attacker, every forward, needs.
"But, in my opinion, he took too much freedom and then it is difficult for your organisation in the team.”
So that is the reason why Ramirez was not part of Koeman's plans last season or certainly n the summer this, but the Dutchman continued.
"What’s changed? What has changed is we passed the transfer window,”
"We had some injuries with some players and I gave some players a rest.
"Of course, normally, it is a possibility to take one of the strikers from the under-21s, but they played on Monday for 90 minutes.
"He is part of the team, he is training well, his behaviour is positive. I’m the first to give that kind of player a chance when we need somebody. Injuries are one of the big problems for Gaston.
"I spoke to him before starting the pre-season and for the first time he had a normal holiday. And after seven or eight days of the pre-season, he got an injury and lost three weeks in the pre-season. Then you know it is difficult.
"Still, he isn’t the first choice on the position in front, but I know his qualities. He is technically a very good player and if he is physically on level, yeah, why not? Why not? It’s competition.
"It’s all about your performance during the whole week and if you get the opportunity to play show your qualities.”
So Koeman has not shut the door to Ramirez forcing his way into the squad as he did at MK Dons, although it is hard to see him getting much of a game with so many ahead of him in the pecking order, he could do a job in certain situations as he certainly has the passing ability to unlock a defence that is as the phrase goes, "parking the bus" in that respect he has a lot more than anyone else in the mdfield.
But as he goes into the last year of his contract I cannot see him staying beyond January, when that window opens I think he will be near enough the end of his contract to perhaps write off the wages he would lose if he were to move permanently to a club, I think he would find it hard to get a weekly salary of more than £25k given his form in the last three years since joining Saints, even writing off the last six months of his contract would cost him around £1 million plus bonus's, so that puts in perspective as to why he is still a Saints player, the reality is that Cortese's folly has cost the club around £20-25 million in wages, pension contributions & NI contributions etc with little being recouped when he has been on loan, plus of course his £12 million transfer fee.
£35-40 million has been the cost of Gaston Ramirez so far for a grand total of 23 starts in the Premier plus 22 appearances as a sub scoring 6 goals, plus 4 (2) in the cups scoring twice.
I don't blame the player, unlike the other Folly Osvaldo, Gaston has done nothing other than work hard and has not caused trouble, we cannot blame him for accepting an offer that was beyond his wildest dreams and we cannot blame him for the fact that he was brought into a team tat did not suit his style of play, but there are those that should be blamed !