Jim Goodwin has told Christian Ramirez he lost his place as Aberdeen’ s main marksman because his strike rate wasn’t up to scratch.
And in a blunt message the Dons boss has challenged the hitman to knuckle down and force his way back into his team after missing out on a summer exit from Pittodrie. Ramirez, who was loosely linked with Hearts on Thursday, has been the centre of constant speculation over a move this summer after losing his No.9 shirt to £535,000 summer signing Bojan Miovski. A cryptic deadline day social media message, later deleted, hinted at unrest after he tweeted: “Make it make sense please. There are two sides to every story. That’s all for now.”
But Goodwin addressed his relationship with the American ahead of today’s trip to Ross County and insisted there were no issues. Ramirez struck 14 goals in 33 appearances before Goodwin took over from Stephen Glass in February but only netted once in 12 games thereafter.
Despite hitting three goals in four League Cup group games at the start of this season he’s had to make do with one cameo appearance off the bench in five Premiership encounters. Goodwin said: “There has been no issue with myself and Christian. There’s been a lot of speculation and rumours but we’ve got a decent relationship.
“He’s been disappointed not to be the main striker at the moment but Bojan Miovski’s got the shirt. People who have been to any of Aberdeen’s games since the start of this season could see why we’ve made the level of investment we made in him. Unfortunately, since I’ve come to the club, people have told me about the good things Christian did in the first half of last season.
“But I’m judging the players on what I’ve seen since February and unfortunately Christian’s goals-to-games return hasn’t been where I feel it needs to be to be my main striker.
“I’ve been very honest with all the players who have been here since I came in the door and that will always remain the case. I have a good working relationship with all the players. Everyone wants to play but unfortunately you can only pick 11 and you can only have nine on the bench. People who aren’t involved need to be patient, they need to knuckle down, they need to work harder and try to force their way into the team.”
Aberdeen are looking to make it four wins on the spin against County this afternoon. Wednesday’s extra-time League Cup win at Annan booked a quarter-final spot while last week’s 5-0 rout of Livingston shot them up into fourth position. Jack MacKenzie made his first start this term against Annan after overcoming a quad muscle injury. And after seeing Hearts pull a plumb draw in Europe the 22-year-old insists that’s where the Dons need to target.
He said: “We need to be up challenging for third. When you look at Hearts in the group stage of European competition, it hits home that we want to be there. With the incentive of third place going straight in, whether it’s Europa League or Conference League, it’s there for us.
"To do that, these games like County away are the ones we have to be winning. It’s never easy there but we have won the last two league games and kept clean sheets. I hope we can make it three.”
MacKenzie has a fight with Middlesbrough loanee Hayden Coulson for the left-back slot but said: “It will be good for me in the long-run, Hayden is a top player. He has got loads of experience, he’s someone I can learn from as well.”
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