Gaston Ramirez looks set to make his Southampton debut at Arsenal tomorrow and is tipped to be a great success at St Mary’s. The Premier League website reports.
The Saints pulled off a real coup by signing the 21-year-old from Bologna and beat a number of top European clubs for his signature.
The timing of his debut could be perfect, as Nigel Adkins’ side have had a tough start to life back in the top-flight, losing all of their opening three games- including narrow defeats to Manchester City and Manchester United.
Ramirez has won nine caps for Uruguay and represented his nation at this summer’s Olympic Games in London.
He began his career in Uruguay with Penarol in 2009 and helped them to secure the Primera Division title in his first season.
A move to Bologna followed in 2010, where he spent two seasons and scored eight goals in the last campaign to help the club secure a respectable ninth-place finish in Serie A.
Ramirez was perhaps best known in Italy for his wonderful left foot and the ability to deliver a deadly set-piece.
He can also easily dribble past an opponent at ease and likes to run with the ball at every opportunity- as he showed by finishing top of the Serie A dribbling charts last season.
Two football experts, Paolo Menicucci, a Milan-based football journalist and Rupert Fryer, editor of www.southamericanfootball.co.uk, offered their thoughts on Ramirez’s qualities and how he will benefit the south coast club.
Menicucci said: “Most of his eight goals were real beauties, a back-heel volley against Fiorentina arguably the best of all. Just to show how feared he was by Serie A defences he was the player with the most fouls against in the whole Serie A campaign.”
Meanwhile, Fryer discussed how Adkins will choose to deploy the Uruguayan and believes he will be used on the wing instead of his preferred position behind the main striker.
He said: “I expect him to be deployed wide – the position in which he started his career – with the option to cut inside.
On a final note, he added: “He has the ability to make a success of himself in England, and is young enough to make the necessary adjustments to his game. If allowed time and space in the final third, he can be devastating.”
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