According to The Athletic, Sandro Ramirez “remains on a list of players” Marcel Brands must move on before Everton can start signing players for next season.
What’s the word?
The Spaniard joined the Toffees for around £5.2m back in the summer of 2017, when Ronald Koeman was still in charge of affairs at Goodison Park.
The striker has endured a difficult time since then, failing to make the grade at Everton, before being sent out on loan. Now, The Athletic claim that Brands will have to move on Ramirez this summer in order to free up funds for current boss Carlo Ancelotti, although his £85k-a-week wages are likely to be a stumbling block.
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The report adds that Real Valladolid, with whom he the previous campaign on loan at, can’t begin to afford him on a permanent basis, and that another loan to the club “may not be an option until later in the window”.
A painful Steve Walsh reminder
That ill-fated summer of 2017, in which Everton’s then director of football Steve Walsh orchestrated a spending spree that ended up delivering very little on the pitch, continues to haunt the Toffees even to this day.
The Merseyside club’s inability to get Ramirez off their books has cost them dearly, and now, with the whole financial struggles that teams across Europe are facing, that will be even harder.
But if Brands is given any opportunity to cut their losses on the Spaniard this summer, then he simply must take it. At £5.2m, Everton are not going to lose big money based on the transfer fee. However, the relief they would get in terms of freeing him from their growing wage bill could be the difference-maker when it comes to delivering new signings for Ancelotti.
Ramirez is a painful reminder of Walsh’s failings, and Brands must show no mercy him to this summer.
