Aitor Karanka, the Middlesbrough manager, did not threaten to leave the Teesside club if Gaston Ramirez was sold to Leicester City, The Independent understands.

Ramirez submitted a transfer request during last month’s January transfer window and the defending Premier League champions were interested in bringing him to the King Power Stadium.

The deal, however, did not transpire and Ramirez’s agent Pablo Bentacur has since claimed that Karanka threatened to walk if his client was sold.

“I was working to bring Ramirez to Leicester, Ranieri and Eduardo Macia wanted him strongly,” Bentacur told Tuttomercatoweb, in quotes published on Monday.

“With Middlesbrough it was a battle, the coach said that if Gaston had gone he would leave too,” he added.

However, sources close to Karanka have told The Independent that no such ultimatum was issued and Karanka was willing to allow Ramirez to leave, so long as a suitable replacement could be found.

No such player became available and Ramirez subsequently stayed at the Riverside.



The Uruguayan international has missed much of Middlesbrough’s 2017 so far with a knee injury. His last competitive minutes came in the 0-0 stalemate with Leicester, his former suitors, on 2 January.

Ramirez’s transfer request followed later that month but, having stayed on Teesside and recovered from the knee problem, the 26-year-old is now in line to return to Karanka’s side.

The former Southampton attacking midfielder travelled with the rest of the first-team squad on Monday for a four-day training camp in Benidorm.

“He is and he will be an important player in this team and he knows that," Karanka said.