Southampton’s Ramirez has emerged as a wanted attacker.
Southampton attacking midfielder Gaston Ramirez is a surprise transfer target for both Atletico Madrid and Borussia Dortmund, reports La Gazzetta.
The Uruguayan has spent just one season at St Mary’s since a club record transfer of £13.4m in August 2012 from Serie A side Bologna.
Ramirez joined the Saints upon their return to the Premier League after gaining promotion from the Championship and has played 26 matches for the club, scoring five goals and providing assists for a further three.
Yet after just 12 months in England, European giants Atletico and Dortmund are looking to poach the 22-year-old from the Premier League side as both teams have lost big players this summer.
Atleti sold top-scorer and talisman Radamel Falcao to AS Monaco in a colossal £50m transfer and whilst Sevilla’s Alvaro Negredo is expected to come in and fill the gap, the La Liga club also want attack-minded Ramirez.
Similarly, the Bundesliga and Champions League runners-up lost wonderkid Mario Goetze to rivals Bayern Munich in a £32.5m deal and likewise need to improve their side in the final third of the pitch – with striker Robert Lewandowski also being linked with a move away from the Westfalenstadion.
Ramirez signed a four-year deal when he joined the Saints however and with the club sanctioning so much money for the Uruguay international’s transfer, they will want to make at least that back if a sale were to be made.
The forward was quite the coup for Southampton when he joined in 2012, having earned 17 caps for his country despite fierce competition in his position from talents such as Luis Suarez and Diego Forlan.
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