Major League Soccer (MLS) sides will be looking at Aberdeen’s Christian Ramirez this summer – with three teams in particular in the market for a centre-forward.
It is understood the Dons are willing to listen to offers for the 31-year-old – who netted 15 times last season after signing from Houston Dynamo, but has yet to score since Jim Goodwin took the Pittodrie reins in February and could be facing a fight with new boy Bojan Miovski to be the Reds’ first-choice frontman.
Last season apart, Ramirez’s entire career has been spent playing at various levels in the United States, including MLS spells with Minnesota United, LAFC and Houston.
Given the striker and his family’s hints at homesickness during their time in the north-east, all eyes are on the American transfer window opening on July 7 when it comes to his future.
If Ramirez is looking to exit the Dons, MLS expert Joe Lowery thinks the two-cap US international remains an attractive proposition to MLS clubs after a year in the Premiership.
The Phoenix-based journalist – a podcaster with the likes of The Athletic-affiliated Total Soccer Show, and the editor of Backheeled.com – said: “He’s definitely a name folks over here will know.
“He was in Gregg Berhalter’s first ever camp with the US in 2019 and, because he spent some time in the MLS as well, he’s someone people know.
“Ramirez will absolutely interest teams.
“Because of the salary cap and the way the rosters are structured, it would depend on what the financial details of the deal would be, but I’m guessing he would be in most, if not all, MLS teams’ price ranges.
“Certainly, with his goalscoring ability, which we’ve seen in MLS and now abroad as well – he’s a name teams out there should be interested in if they’re looking to add goals heading into the second half of the season.”
Move back to MLS straightforward for US nationals
Despite MLS rules around signings from overseas, Ramirez’s status as an American citizen means he would fill a ‘domestic’ roster slot – rather than a restricted ‘international’ slot – should a club want to bring him back to his homeland.
A moderate-earner compared to some of the MLS’ global names, he would also not fall into the similarly-limited ‘designated player’ category- which is part of the MLS’ cap of teams’ salaries and only allows each side to have a small amount of high-wage players.
According to Lowery, this makes the road significantly easier, should Aberdeen be keen to offload the striker, Ramirez be intent on a return to US and if MLS clubs pursue him.
The frontman is under contract at Pittodrie until next year, having been handed a two-year deal by departed Dons boss Stephen Glass following his own arrival from the American game last summer.
While there is a final ‘extra layer of red tape’ when it comes to MLS sides signing players compared to Europe, Lowery says any deal to bring Ramirez back Stateside would still fundamentally be a case of the interested club agreeing a fee with Aberdeen, before then moving on to personal terms with the player.
He explained: “The only difference with MLS is the league has to sign off and approve on these kind of deals because of the single entity structure where teams are more franchises underneath this big umbrella, rather than individual autonomous teams.
“There is that extra layer of red tape, but, for someone like Ramirez – or in 99.9% of situations (it’s not an issue).
“He’s someone who has been in the MLS and a name people around the league already know. There wouldn’t be any issue as long as the club were still under the salary cap, checking all the different roster rules and underneath the budget and all that stuff.”
Three clubs fit the bill for Ramirez bid – and Atlanta aren’t one
Given Aberdeen’s ‘strategic partnership’ with Atlanta United – which has so far included the bizarre Ronald Hernandez saga and the Dons bringing former winger Glass across the pond from the Five Stripes’ second-string to serve as Pittodrie boss – fans have already been speculating Ramirez could be on his way to Georgia.
Lowery thinks this is unlikely – however, he has pinpointed three MLS outfits crying out for a penalty box predator-type no.9 like Ramirez.
One of those is the club he made his name at – Minnesota United, who he helped graduate out of the second-tier before scoring more than 20 times for them in their first MLS campaign in 2017/18.
Lowery said: “Atlanta, even with that connection, I’d probably put further down the list, because they already have Josef Martinez – who is a really big name here – and they just signed a striker from Chivas in Mexico who has been playing some minutes for them. They’ve spent so much on attacking players recently.
“There are a few teams who I think could use a number nine like Ramirez, and Minnesota is one, so going back (there) potentially. I don’t know what the relationship is like there, so maybe there’s not the desire on one side or the other to make that happen, but Minnesota just had a striker leave the team to go back to France. He’s out and there’s a spot there.
“Austin, in Texas, is another team who could use a striker. They’re doing really well in the west this year, so maybe they’re looking for that last piece to push them over the top as the play-offs get closer.
“The last one is Chicago, who are really struggling in the Eastern Conference – they’re 13th out of 14 in the East right now. They brought in a striker from within the league during the off-season and I don’t think he’s performed all that well. There’s room for more production in the attack. They have more striking options in their squad, but if they could fit him in, he’d certainly be an upgrade.”
🆎️⚽️📉 Here's my view on Christian Ramirez having looked at the two parts of the season –
A small part of the Ramirez puzzle under Goodwin is poorer finishing, undoubtedly… (1/3) https://t.co/6w7T09yupg
— Ryan Cryle (@RyanCryle) June 30, 2022