Mayra Ramírez is a Colombian international striker who has just moved to Chelsea in late January on a four-and-a-half-year deal, coming from the Spanish side Levante where she has been playing since the summer of 2022.
It is also worth noting that the 24-year-old has already reached 30 senior caps for the national Colombian team and has been a key player for her country since 2018, having participated in most big continental and international competitions, such as the 2022 Copa América Femenina when Colombia reached the final and the 2023 Women’s World Cup during which they reached the quarter-finals.
The 24-year-old was the team’s striker on key occasions, notably in the quarter-finals game against England, where she impressed a lot of followers of the game, especially with how she dealt with duels against players like Alex Greenwood, Rachel Daly and Keira Walsh.
Ramírez began her footballing career at Real Pasión in 2015, before joining Fortaleza CEIF in 2017 and subsequently Independiente Medellín in the Colombian league.
It was during her time at Independiente Medellín that she attracted the interest of Spanish club Sporting de Huelva.
The latter signed the player in 2020, giving her her first opportunity in Europe, in general, and in Liga F, in particular.
Afterwards, it did not take Ramírez more than two years to attract the attention of one of the Spanish league’s best teams, with Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Atlético Madrid, as she was able to make the switch to Levante in the summer of 2022.
She, therefore, showcased her attacking prowess by scoring 32 goals in 95 games in the Primera División over the past four years.
It should be noted that Mayra Ramírez became the first Colombian player to represent the Blues, as she is also the Women’s Super League‘s most expensive player at the moment, following a record signing for a transfer fee that globally equals $544,000.
Although this could put extra pressure on Ramírez’s shoulders, it can give her even more confidence in her abilities and push her to give her best to help Chelsea reach their seasonal and long-term objectives (lifting the WSL title and winning the UWCL mainly).
In this Mayra Ramírez scout report, we will explore Ramírez’s attacking traits and what characterises her in terms of finishing and physical abilities, while studying her ability to fit into Chelsea Women’s tactics.
The analysis will also attempt to compare Ramírez and Sam Kerr’s abilities, as the signing of the Colombian international was primarily driven by the need for a replacement for Kerr following the latter’s recent anterior cruciate ligament injury.
Mayra Ramírez Attacking Traits
Ramírez is a striker who has played left and right winger numerous times.
Therefore, she is accustomed to moving to different parts of the attacking zone as she can occupy all attacking positions.
According to Paul Green, “Mayra is a dynamic forward who can play anywhere across the front line”.
This being said, Ramírez will mainly be playing in Kerr’s position, which is also Ramírez’s natural position since that’s the ideal position for the Colombian forward, and that’s where she gets the opportunity to play at her best.
She possesses the physical abilities necessary to replace a player like Sam Kerr in the best ways, given that she wins 41.7% of duels on average and 40.8% in aerial duels.
Although these statistics can be improved, it should be said that Ramírez is challenging to beat in 1v1 situations, especially when having the ball.
The fact that she is aware of this physical advantage helps her a lot in winning duels and dribbling with more confidence than the rest of the players, with an actual 51.3% dribbling rate at the moment.
Moreover, Ramírez can be extremely dangerous when playing with her back towards goal and having defenders pressing high on her.
The 24-year-old can deal well with such situations; she impressively resists defenders’ physical disturbance and can quickly turn and escape marking after initially controlling and protecting the ball.
Therefore, she can reliably interpret the role of a stationary striker while being a speedy player simultaneously, combining the roles of a stationary striker and a pacy one at the same time.
The following example shows a perfect example of how dangerous the Colombian star can be when getting the ball in such situations.
She could get the ball, protect it and resist her marker’s disturbance using her physical strength before turning quickly and running towards the goalkeeper, dribbling past her and scoring a beautiful goal using her left foot.
In addition to being extremely efficient in terms of pace and physical strength, she is also very good at jumping high and winning aerial duels.
Mayra Ramírez deals with crosses in a very useful way that can suit Chelsea Women’s style of play a lot since she can do precisely what Kerr does when receiving crosses.
She frees herself from marking and usually puts a suitable impact on the ball with powerful headers, enabling her to score.
This example highlights Ramírez’s ability to jump high enough to catch complicated crosses while making some steps back to free herself from the opponent’s marking.
And with all that, she still succeeds in scoring a powerful header from distance.
Another essential aspect that makes Mayra Ramírez unique is that she combines pace and physical resistance, and can be extremely dangerous when chasing the ball and during counter-attacks.
She proved on numerous occasions, most recently against a powerful defender like Alex Greenwood, that she can run faster than her opponent and reach the ball before them while resisting defensive attempts, thereby preventing her from reaching the ball first.
This picture shows the action during which Ramírez was able to reach a through pass towards the box when Greenwood had the advantage initially and was closer to the ball.
Head coach Emma Hayes can surely exploit this type of movement and the advantage she can have on defenders in the team’s favour by relying a bit further on counter-attacks with more through passes launched into space for Ramírez to catch.
Mayra Ramírez Shooting Improvements
In terms of finishing, Ramírez has a wide plethora of goalscoring techniques that she uses regularly, depending on the situation.
She proved on numerous occasions that she is a clinical striker with constant total concentration in front of the goal.
During one of Ramírez’s first games with Chelsea, she has already proved her outstanding goalscoring techniques by scoring a very beautiful and decisive goal against Crystal Palace in the FA Women’s Cup’s fifth round.
This back-heel finish and the movement without the ball that preceded the shot to anticipate the teammate’s pass and reach the ball before the defender highlighted Ramírez’s excellent sense of goal and intelligent striker movements as it presented the Colombian striker in the best of ways in England with her first goal for the Blues.
Although her shooting techniques are varied, Mayra Ramírez’s on-target shooting average reaches 36.7%, which can undoubtedly be improved at Chelsea if she continues to work on her shooting accuracy.
This being said, we cannot ignore the fact that she can score with various techniques and from different distances.
More importantly, she is accustomed to facing goalkeepers from short distances and often knows how to deal with such situations, maintaining her concentration levels, and usually succeeds in shooting at the right time with the necessary power and accuracy.
This goal example highlights this goalscoring mastery despite shooting at the last possible second, knowing that the opposing goalkeeper did her best to disturb Ramírez and try to intercept the ball before she shoots.
At the same time, the actual footage does not really include a lot of goals from distance scored by Ramírez, which means that the Colombian striker can focus a bit further on this aspect and improve her shooting from distance accuracy and power, knowing that she proved on numerous occasions that she can shoot with power.
Emma Hayes can undoubtedly improve this aspect with Ramírez with some specific training since Ramírez has the potential to be much more clinical from a distance.
This example shows how Ramírez can often fix defenders and turn before aiming at surprising goalkeepers with surprising shots.
However, her shots do not often go towards the required angle, even when they are powerful enough.
Mayra Ramírez Vs Sam Kerr
The 24-year-old Colombian star is quite similar to the 30-year-old Australian international in many aspects, particularly in movements without the ball, headers and playing as a stationary striker, yet with excellent pace and ball carries.
Mayra Ramírez should seize this golden opportunity to replace Kerr in the best way possible and earn respect, knowing she has already started convincing everyone at Chelsea Women following her first few appearances.
Kerr can indeed be a bit more crucial at the moment, given her experience in WSL and richer goalscoring abilities.
However, Ramírez has greater physical abilities and endurance level, which enables her to resist defensive disturbance more than the Australian.
Holding the ball in a more efficient way than Kerr and succeeding in dribbling with a greater success rate than the Australian striker needs to be exploited positively to the advantage of Ramírez as she has to score more goals and provide numerous assists this season to concretise her ball carries and penetrations and make them as fruitful as possible.
It is also certain that Ramírez will need some adaptation time to succeed in understanding her teammates on the pitch and being understood as well.
Developing chemistry with her teammates and training on attacking plans together would eventually shed more light on Ramírez, making her pivotal in Chelsea Women’s attack.
For now, it is up to the Colombian international to confirm whether she is capable of replacing a striker like Sam Kerr for an extended period or not.
Consistency in terms of performance will be crucial in determining whether the Colombian forward can become a long-term attacking option for Chelsea or merely a temporary replacement for the team’s number one striker.
Therefore, it will not be fair to judge Mayra Ramírez based on two or three games with the Blues, even though she has the potential to become better than Sam Kerr on all aspects, especially if we consider that she is only 24 years old and has a lot of time to develop and reach her peak, as opposed to Kerr who is 30.
Conclusion
Mayra Ramírez has the opportunity to become Chelsea Women and the WSL’s signing of the season, especially if she succeeds in helping the Blues lift the league’s title, and why not win the UWCL.
However, to achieve this, the 24-year-old Colombian striker will need to play at her best for the remainder of the season and utilise her international experience to quickly adapt to the WSL’s playing style, thereby succeeding in consistently adding value in attack and ultimately filling the gap left by Sam Kerr.
