Christian Ramirez - shades of Mark McGhee in sparkling debut as Aberdeen hit five

A goal scoring No 9. Aberdeen have dreamed of one of those for a while now and it looks like Christian Ramirez could be the answer to their fans’ prayers.

Christian Ramirez - Everything Aberdeen have been looking for (Photo by Craig Foy / SNS Group)

He’s already struck up a bond with the supporters. They were singing his name even before he managed to augment a promising competitive debut with a goal in last night’s 5-1 Europa Conference League second round tie first leg win over BK Hacken.

Judging by his goals record for previous clubs in the United States, the 30-year-old knows the way to goal. He should have got off the mark in the opening half but was a little timid with a header from Jonny Hayes’ cross from the left. He was furious with himself.

There is already evidence of a promising partnership developing between him and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas. A headed lay-off from Ramirez saw Emmanuel-Thomas set up Funso-King Ojo, whose shot was saved.

Ramirez proved troublesome for the Hacken defence all evening. He came short, he got in behind them and he held the ball up well when required. Ramirez was everything it was hoped Florian Kamberi might be. With Gothenburg back in fans’ thoughts, he is a striker in the Mark McGhee mould – physical but artful. He certainly looks capable of following in the footsteps of Adam Rooney and Sam Cosgrove.

While his goal was not the most pleasing on the eye of Aberdeen’s five, it underlined Ramirez’s striker instincts. He slid in to divert Jack MacKenzie’s effort past goalkeeper Peter Abrahamsson. He deserved the standing ovation he received from nearly 6,000 Aberdeen fans when he was replaced by Teddy Jenks in injury time.