The world is full of young football talents. They grow up in the streets of São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Abuja or Belgrade, and the world is literally to their feet, so to speak.
These lads are on a mission to become the stars we will watch tomorrow. The next Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi or João Felix.
At the same time, there are beautiful projects that focus on these players, from the Guardian’s top 60 young footballers yearly plan, the unique and high-quality Scouted Football, among others.
We are not going to compete with them. However, in our work and research in BabaGol, we discover many players that don’t get the focus or the chance to showcase what they can produce.
With that in mind, we have decided to share snippets of our source of knowledge. Our shadow scout, Juan Gafas, will pop-up weekly and will put the spotlight on one player that is worth your attention. This can be viewed as a tip for all BabaGolers to meet the next Jamie Vardy and Dado Pršo, or maybe the next Gary Medel or Jorge Valdivia, a moment (or a few years) before they become famous.
For the final edition of 2019, Juan Gafas heads to Uruguay to see an old-school striker.
Juan Ignacio Ramírez
Age: 22
Club: Liverpool (Uruguay)
Position: Center Forward
Nationality: Uruguay
Market Value: €400,000 (Transfermarkt)
Why follow him? The historic youth team goal scorer for Liverpool Montevideo has finally exploded in the first team; after two seasons with decent numbers, he netted 24 league goals in almost 2600 minutes during 2019.
Ramirez is a forward who relies on his teammates to deliver balls to areas where he can do what he does best, put the football in the back of the net. He isn't the type to mess around in the buildup play too often, but his positioning and movement in and around the box, together with his calmness in front of goal, make him a lethal forward. We don't see many forwards of his type in the top levels these days, and when we do, they are usually bigger than him. In the right set-up, Ramirez can fit in and keep on scoring for better teams and in better leagues.
In Uruguay, when you are 23 years old and still playing in the local league, it usually isn’t a good sign for your future, unless you belong to one of the top clubs, which Ramirez currently isn't. Nevertheless, El Colo (the red head) can prove this myth wrong and leverage his form to kick-start his career away from the 'Negriazules' for the first time. Perhaps 2020 can be his year.