Scouting Report: Ivan Ramis

The news on the signing of the Spanish centre backs seems to have died down in recent days. But it does appear that we are in the lead to sign the player ahead of everyone else. Report bids of £9 million are apparently wide of the mark, and Wigan have offered around the £3 million mark which Mallorca looked to have accepted earlier this week, with Dave Whelan talking to the player in Spain on Monday.

Edit: Reports after I wrote this now suggest that a deal has been turned down and that Wigan will have to up their bid to £6 million.

Yet with the signing of Fraser Fyvie, the clubs transfer front seems to have gone slightly quite. Is this tactical to let the market settle before making a move for our next player? I don't know, but what I do know is that Ivan Ramis is one of the players that Martinez defiantly wants to bring in this summer.

So what of the player? What kind of defender is he, and can he bring some stability to our defence which at times over the past few years has looked shaky to say the least.

Ivan Ramis was born in Majorca and has then gone on to play for and only for Mallorca all his sporting career. Making his debut at the age of 19 for the first team he quickly went on to establish himself as a first team player with some impressive performances in the closing stages of the 2003/04 season. This lead to a loan spell away from the club to gain more first team experience at Valladolid.

Upon his return in the Ivan would become part of the starting line up. Showing his ability to read the game well and recover with pace and control to stop players from getting in behind him. Two more seasons in Spain's top league (La Liga) followed before a possible move to Celtic broke down.

Ivan would add a bit more composure to our back line and would quite readily be able to provide cover or replace any of the back three central defenders we have. Competent in both the air and with his feet gives him the ideal persona for a Martinez defensive player.

Quick video of Ivan Scoring for Mallorca, and yes he is the player taking the freekick!