Some have shared concerns about the Colombian, but she’s already shown she can link up with Lauren James, Fran Kirby and more to be a Blues star
Mayra Ramirez’s arrival at Chelsea was a surprise, certainly. After the news that star striker Sam Kerr would miss the rest of the season with an ACL injury, many thought the Blues would resist the urge to dip into the notoriously difficult January market because they already boasted attacking assets such as Lauren James, Fran Kirby and Mia Fishel. They had the options to be able to cope without Kerr, right?
We’ll never know the answer to that question because Chelsea did sit down to do business, the kind of which was record-breaking. The fee which brought Ramirez to London is the most a British club has ever paid for a player in the women's game, with the criteria for add-ons expected to be met to take the total paid up to £426,000 ($537,000). That would've been a world-record fee, even, until Bay FC's eye-watering acquisition of Racheal Kundananji earlier this week.
Ramirez shone for Levante after joining the club in the summer of 2022, scoring 22 goals in 38 games, and she played a crucial role in Colombia’s historic run to the Women’s World Cup quarter-finals last summer. At 24 years old, she’s still got a lot of room to grow and develop, too, such is her potential. She’s strong, she’s versatile and she’s talented.
Yet, her arrival has come with surprisingly little fanfare and even some scepticism. Why? As Chelsea look to send manager Emma Hayes off on a high, with her to take the United States women’s national team job this summer, Ramirez is an outstanding signing ahead of the business end of the season. Indeed, it’s much more than that – she can be a star for the Blues for years to come.
GettyKey absentee
Losing Kerr is a huge blow to Chelsea. One of the best centre-forwards on the planet, if not the best, the Australian doesn’t just rack up a lot of goals, she’s also excellent on the big occasions. Supremely-talented, a wonderful character and someone who doesn’t shy away from pressure, it’s hard to replace someone of Kerr's ilk. It’s even harder when you’re trying to do that in January, in a transfer window that is really difficult to operate in.
That’s part of the reason why many thought Chelsea wouldn’t sign someone to fill Kerr’s shoes. Another reason is because the squad is stacked with superb attacking players already. After all, they have Fishel, the USWNT star who was quite literally signed to step up when Kerr wasn’t available or needed a rest. They have Aggie Beever-Jones, the talented England youth international who has been incredibly prolific in her limited minutes this season. They have James, a dynamic and versatile forward with the tactical intelligence to adapt her role if needed, and they have Kirby, who is also incredibly- talented and capable of doing different jobs for the team.
Between them, and with the sublime service provided by wingers Guro Reiten and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, many thought there was enough there for Hayes to work with to adapt to Kerr’s absence.
AdvertisementGetty'Not sure she's Kerr’s ideal replacement'
Ramirez’s arrival felt like a massive statement, then. To splash such cash on one of the game’s hottest properties showed that Chelsea mean business. They want to be sure that they have a team that can lift as many of the four trophies they are still competing for in the next few months.
Yet, it’s been met with mixed reactions. "I'm not sure she's the ideal replacement for Sam Kerr in the short-term,” Fara Williams, England’s most capped footballer, told . “Will she still play alongside Sam Kerr if Kerr signs a new contract after this year when she comes back from an ACL? How [will] that look for her as a player fighting in this Chelsea team?
"Fishel can play up there and I think she gives them a different dynamic when they play. Play into her, she's very good at holding up the ball, players can work off of her, something Chelsea have never been able to do before. Lauren James as a false nine, Fran Kirby, who for whatever reason isn’t really playing that much at Chelsea. If they can get her playing regularly I think she's a good enough replacement, between her and James."
But Ramirez delivers certainty. What if Kerr doesn’t sign a new deal when her current contract expires this summer? And what if James or Kirby struggled in a more central role? Fishel, who is still inexperienced at the highest level, would need some help with the goal-scoring burden, too.
Ramirez is a proven No.9, she’s got real potential to go with her already excellent talent and she’s got so many different facets to her game that the idea of putting her and Kerr in the same team, or having them pushing each other for the same shirt, sounds like an exciting problem to have.
All the tools
So, what exactly does Ramirez bring to the table? It might be easier to list the things she’s not so good at. Boasting impressive strength and excellent footwork, the 24-year-old holds the ball up well and links up nicely with team-mates, drawing on her futsal upbringing while boasting good movement and understanding of where the space is. She’s dangerous on the move, too, because she’s explosive and difficult to dispossess.
These traits mean that, while she is best as a No.9, she can also play a little wider if needed, so any concerns about how she could play with Kerr if the Aussie stays shouldn’t be too great.
“She seems to me to be a player with a growing potential, with still a lot to give,” Levante coach Jose Luis Sanchez-Vera told last year. “We are seeing a Mayra who has exploded, especially because of her physical criteria, but she gives us a lot in different situations in the game. She's a player who people say runs into space for us, but she almost gives us more with how well she fixes the opposing defensive lines, how she allows us to support from the top, play with second line players, open doors, play with her feet, with her first touch. I think she is the player that allows us to give different contexts to the interpretation of the game.
“Right now, Mayra is exploding in the media, but she has so much room for improvement, in finishing situations, etc. If she continues like this, I think she's going to be a determining factor, not only in Spanish football, but also at European level.”
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GettyStar on the world stage
Sanchez-Vera would’ve hoped to have had Ramirez with him at Levante for longer, there’s no doubt, but during her outstanding World Cup campaign with Colombia last summer, rumours of interest from Paris Saint-Germain and Lyon started to emerge. It felt like only a matter of time until Ramirez would leave the Spanish club, one which has become used to high player turnover in recent years such is the good job it does scouting, but also the status it holds as a club without the finances of Europe’s elite.
To get a fee in exchange for her departure that will be second only to Kundananji for a world-record is excellent business for Levante, but it doesn’t feel like Chelsea have overpaid, either. Finances in the women’s game are on the rise, and while Ramirez might not be a household name, to be one of the sport’s most expensive signings is only an indication of her exciting potential.
The World Cup was a great snapshot to justify this. Still only 24, she spearheaded Colombia to its best-ever performance at the tournament and earned huge praise along the way. Ian Wright, the legendary Arsenal forward, described her as “easily one of the best [No.9s] in the tournament” because of her “movement” and “link-up play”, while South Korea head coach Colin Bell dubbed her “world-class” after his team struggled to contain her in a 2-0 defeat in the group stages.
Playing for Chelsea is very different to playing for Levante. Ramirez has swapped a club that is often the underdog and needs to punch above its weight for the dominant force in English women’s football, one which has huge expectations. To have that World Cup experience under her belt and the pressure that came with it will be invaluable, then, and it was proof that she can cut it at the very top.