It is a fair bet that mountains of Fray Bentos corned beef have been consumed by Britons who had no idea that this food was named after a border-town in Uruguay, dominated by the meat-packing factory that had produced it. This was the birthplace of Gastón Ramirez, who was whisked off to the capital, Montevideo, at 15, by Peñarol. He was still only 19 when sold to Bologna for €3m, with Peñarol retaining 30 per cent of his registration.

Originally a left-winger, he was used in a more central role in Italy and his mesmerizing dribbling and driving runs had won him, by the time he joined Southampton, nine international caps and a place in Uruguay’s Olympic team that competed in London 2012.

He was reputed, as soon as the Games ended, to be a target for Liverpool and Tottenham, but then Southampton’s name entered the frame. After much toing and froing, Gastón signed for the Saints on the last day of the August 2012 transfer-window. The on-off negotiations were explained by Peñarol’s minor stake in the player and Bologna’s need to make a hefty profit that might appease their fans.

But Nicola Cortese had hung in there, to clinch a marquee signing that seemed to signal the club’s return to the Premiership and a determination to stay there. The fee was reported to be £12m – thereby smashing the previous £4m record created by the 2001 signing of Rory Delap. Any suggestion that the fee was excessive was dismissed upon his home debut – a 4-1 romp v Aston Villa – when

the Echo judged Gastón to be “magnificent” and “a snip” at £12m.

He was soon held back, however, by a dead-leg that required hospitalisation. And when he returned, he seldom started and finished a match. But was it simply a question of stamina? How else to explain one good match being followed by an indifferent performance, especially away from St Mary’s?

His class was never in doubt, but his occasional anonymity attracted the standard criticisms: he was too clever for his team mates, who were not attuned to his vision; or his game was simply not suited to the so-called English style.

That debate was terminated prematurely, during the penultimate home game v West Brom. As Gastón accelerated into a channel in characteristic fashion, Shane Long clambered on him from behind. Gastón swatted him off – literally – and a red card ended his season. The incident sort of summed up his stop start career as a Saints player and in September he went on loan to Hull but his spell there mirrored his time at St Mary’s with injuries preventing any consistency as Hull made a swift return to the Championship. He initially did a little better at Middlesbrough and when his contract expired at Southampton they offered him a three-year deal. The Echo reckoned the club had made a £21m loss on the transfer which worked out at £8000 a minute. What was even more irritating Middlesbrough got a fee of nearly £10 million when he later joined Sampdoria.