Who is Sandro Ramirez? Everton’s imminent new signing has starred for Spain Under-21s and can offer fantastic link-up play
Sandro Ramirez is comfortable on the ball and excellent with midfield runners, Football Whispers tells you everything you need to know
SPAIN have one of the best squads at the European Under-21 Championships.
The tournament is currently taking place in Poland and they got off to a flying start as they thumped Macedonia.
And one of the brightest prospects in their squad is Sandro Ramirez.
He looks set to seal a move to Everton within the upcoming weeks.
And ahead of his switch to England, we asked our friends at to profile the 21-year-old.
So join us for a closer look at Ramirez:
MOST READ IN FOOTBALL
Who is Sandro Ramirez and where does he come from?
Born in the Canary Islands, Sandro joined Barcelona’s famous La Masia academy aged 14 after spending time in the Las Palmas youth setup.
He made his debut for the B team in August 2013, playing 31 times and scoring seven goals that season as they finished third in the Spanish second division.
His impressive performances for Barcelona B earned him a call up to the first team at the Nou Camp, and his career for the senior squad couldn’t have got off to a much better start, when he came off the bench to score a winner in 1-0 victory over Villarreal in August 2014.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given that probably have the best attacking trio in world football at the moment in Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar, Sandro found it difficult to properly have an impact in the first team.
He made just 32 appearances for the Blaugrana, scoring seven times, but that’s a far from shabby return given the inconsistent nature of the opportunities he was given, and it worked out at a goal every 158 minutes.
However, an apparent lack of composure in front of goal often let him down.
It looked like he was almost too eager to impress, leading him to overthink situations and a scoring chance disappearing, or snatching at a shot when he needed a more measured finish.
And last summer, his lack of game time was a major factor in Barcelona sporting director Robert Fernandez deciding it was best for the young forward’s development to leave the Nou Camp and he left to join Malaga on a free transfer.
The combination of regular football and the chance to step out from the intense limelight in the Catalan capital has proven a winning formula for Sandro so far.
The Spain under-21 international has matured since arriving at La Rosaleda, and has showed real signs of fulfilling the potential he showed when coming through the youth ranks at Barcelona.
It was his breakout season in La Liga, and he found a new clinical edge in front of goal, while retaining and polishing the technical skills that he always had, scoring 14 league goals, more than the likes of Neymar or Karim Benzema managed.
Anyone who watched him immediately noticed his work rate and his willingness to press the opposition and lead the defensive fight from the front really set the tone for his side.
Comfortable on the ball and able to link brilliantly with midfield runners, Sandro can be unselfish when presented with a sight of goal and doesn’t think twice about picking out a better placed colleague, but that doesn’t mean he can’t score – as his record from last season shows.
And you can see his increased confidence in front of goal when you compare the statistics from the 2015/16 season at Barcelona and last year at Malaga.
At Barcelona, his shot accuracy was just 29 per cent, while it was 54 per cent last season at .
What’s more, he had more efforts last season too: 3.54, compared to 2.53 during the 2015/16 campaign.
How much will he cost?
Sandro will be an absolute bargain this summer.
Clubs in Spain have to insert a buyout clause into every player’s contract, and they clearly can’t have expected the fantastic season that the 21-year-old has.
He insisted on a low release clause of just €6million (£5.25million) when he joined the Andalusian club, meaning they will lose their star man for not much money at all.
Where is his most likely destination this summer?
Once a , it looks like Sandro will become an Everton player sooner rather than later.
He’s been spotted in Merseyside as Ronald Koeman goes about rebuilding the squad at Goodison Park as they look to break into the top six.
The Toffees have already brought in Jordan Pickford from Sunderland and Davy Klaassen from Ajax and Sandro appears to be the next .
A move makes sense too, with Arouna Kone and Enner Valencia departing Goodison Park this summer, meaning Koeman will want to bring in a forward.
What’s more, their main striking option from last season Romelu Lukaku appears to be on his way out after refusing to sign a new contract and is the subject of .
With Sandro currently at the European Under-21 Championships with Spain, a deal is unlikely to be made official in the next few days, but it does give Everton fans the opportunity to get a good look at the man who’ll be hoping to bang in the goals at Goodison Park next season.