In mid January we covered a report from Italy that Gaston Ramirez had an agreement in principle to join Leicester City from Middlesbrough. The clubs hadn’t agreed anything and it was a bolt from the blue for many, but pretty much inline with what has happened several times in the player’s career.
Things escalated and Ramirez told Middlesbrough he wanted to leave and take up Leicester’s offer, but the club held firm and refused to let him go.
Further comments on the failed deal were always likely and agent Pablo Bentancur has spoken to TMW and revealed how serious things got, with Aitor Karanka threatening to quit if the deal happened.
Bentancur explained: “I was working to bring Ramirez to Leicester, Ranieri and Eduardo Macia wanted him strongly. With Middlesbrough it was a battle, the coach said that if Gaston had gone he would go away too.”
That’s not a huge surprise given how openly disappointed Karanka has been with Middlesbrough’s January transfer business. It’s not likely to rest there, and Ramirez will probably again be pushing to leave during the summer transfer window.
Whether Leicester City will still be interested remains to be seen.
