After weeks of speculation Everton have secured the services of Argentine defender Ramiro Funes Mori from River Plate for £9.5 million.
This transfer was all but announced last Sunday when he was spotted among the crowd with an Everton scarf around his neck at Goodison Park as they faced Man City in a 2-0 loss.
So here’s a look at his career up to this point…
Player Profile: Ramiro Funes Mori
Date of birth: 5th March, 1991 (24 years
old).
Birthplace: Mendoza, Argentina.
Height: 1.87m (6 ft 1 1/2in).
Position: Centre-back.
Preferred Foot: Left
A left sided centre-back, something boss Roberto Martinez has been looking for all summer after the departure of Sylvain Distin.
Club career stats:
| Year | Team | Appearances | Goals |
| 2011 – | River Plate | 72 | 6 |
At youth level, Mori was at FC Dallas in 2008 before moving to River Plate later that year.
He was in River Plate’s youth set-up for three years until 2011, when he made his breakthrough into the first team at 21 years old. Since then, he has been an important part of the River Plate team.
Mori has been keeping Eder Alvarez Balanta, a player who is highly regarded and has been scouted by a number of European teams, out of the starting line-up.
River Plate are the most successful Primera Division club winning the league on 36 occasions and coming in as runners-up 31 times. The rivalry between River Plate and Boca Juniors is regarded as one of the most famous, as over half of Argentina support one of the two clubs.
Honours
Argentina Primera Division: 2014 final. (At the end of both tournaments, the winners of the Inicial and final tournaments play a match to determine the champions of the season).
Copa Sudamericana: 2014.
Recopa Sudamericana: 2015.
Copa Libertadores: 2015.
Here he is with a goal to seal the 2015 Copa Libertadores in a 3-0 win over Tigres:
International career stats
National team: Argentina.
Appearances: 1.
Goals. 0.
Although he hasn’t featured for any of the youth international teams, just this year Funes Mori forced himself into the Argentina squad for his first appearance when he played his part in an international friendly against El Salvador in March 2015, the 24-year-old helped Argentina on their way to a clean sheet as they won 2-0.
He will be hoping his move to the worlds biggest league – the Premier League – will help him in his bid for more international caps.
Strengths
Standing at 6 ft 2, Mori is an aerial threat – something Everton are in need of – both defensively and offensively. Having scored 6 goals in 72 appearances for River Plate, most of these have been from set pieces.
He is comfortable with playing the ball out from the back, this will certainly help him settle in as this is something boss Roberto Martinez likes his defenders to do. This is part of the reason I believe Sylvain Distin was let go as he wasn’t comfortable with the ball at his feet.
He can also deliver in big games as he scored the winner at La Bombonera against their rivals, Boca Juniors.
Evertonians will be hoping he can bring his ‘big-game experience’ into the Premier league when they play big games such as the Merseyside Derby.
Weaknesses
As South American sides like to play the ball out from the back, this can bring mistakes and Funes Mori falls in the same bracket, unsurprisingly. Although, this is the same for everyone. Roberto Martinez will hope to bring him to speed as quickly as possible.
The pace of the Premier League will, at first, catch Mori out. But playing with two England internationals in John Stones and Phil Jagielka he will learn from them and hopefully iron them out.
Andres Garavaglia’s opinion
“He has so much confidence in himself that he even relegated Colombia international defender Eder Alvarez Balanta to the bench.” he told Sky Sports.
“He is a player who never gives up. He worked very hard to get where he is. He’s always professional and gave his best for the team.”
“The great performances that Ramiro has kept on delivering for more than a year now meant we knew that sooner or later there was going to be an offer for him that neither River nor he would be able to refuse.”
Read Everton view
In my opinion, Roberto Martinez bringing Funes Mori to Goodison Park is a risk.
I think upon arriving at Goodison Park he will be used as cover to John Stones and captain Phil Jagielka, but with Jagielka now 33-years-old, he could be the long-term replacement.
Although I believe the transfer is a risk, at £9.5million, hopefully the deal could turn out to be a steal in the long-term.
Despite the signing of Mori, I feel Everton still need to sign another player in this area.
