10 Premier League Flops Who Could Become World Cup 2014 Stars

10. Gaston Ramirez - Uruguay

On their return to the Premier League after a seven year absence, ambitious Southampton smashed their transfer record to bring the highly rated 21 year old Bologna winger to the club for an enormous £12 million (before that summer £4 million for Rory Delap back in 2001 was the fullest extent of the Saints' transfer ambitions). In two seasons since then, Ramirez has shown occasional flashes of brilliant skill or technique in running with the ball that only serve to make his more typical failure to keep up with the pace and pressure of the Premier League game more of a disappointment. Rapidly eclipsed by Jay Rodriguez, who arrived at the same time for half the price and has become one of Saints' key players, Ramirez has become less and less a part of the Southampton set up under Mauricio Pochettino. In the 2013/14 season, the former record signing started all of three Premier League games, provoking rumours of an imminent return to Serie A. Despite all of this, Ramirez remains a key part of Uruguay manager Oscar Tabarez's plans for the World Cup and started on the right wing in both of their recent warm-up friendlies against Northern Ireland and Slovenia. At the 2012 Olympics, Ramirez was one of the standout players in a weak Uruguay side, scoring one of their only two goals in the tournament before they were eliminated by Great Britain and Daniel Sturridge. Who's to say the same could not happen this month?