Portugal striker Goncalo Ramos has stunned the world with an incredible hat-trick against Switzerland tonight, months after Newcastle United chased him.
Portugal took on Switzerland in their last 16 clash in Qatar and boss Fernando Santos made a bold decision to bench Cristiano Ronaldo.
Whether it was based on form of his petulant reaction to being substituted against South Korea, Cristiano had to sit on the bench as Goncalo Ramos took his place.
Nobody could have really predicted what was to come.
Ramos smashed a superb hat-trick to give Portugal a 6-1 thumping of the Swiss, with Pepe, Raphael Guerreiro and Rafael Leao also on the scoresheet.
Cristiano eventually came on to a huge reception but this night was all about Ramos and his dream World Cup hat-trick.
Newcastle United targeted Goncalo Ramos deal
Ramos may be familiar to some given that he was linked with a host of Premier League clubs during the summer transfer window.
The Benfica striker had shown promise last season, scoring eight times in 46 games.
Newcastle United absolutely saw major potential in Ramos and were very interested in taking him to St James’ Park.
Fabrizio Romano reported in August that Ramos had become Newcastle’s ‘top target’ to strengthen their attack.
A proposal was allegedly being sent to Benfica for a deal but Newcastle just couldn’t find an agreement with Benfica.
Just over two weeks later, Newcastle had moved on and instead paid big money to sign Alexander Isak from Real Sociedad.
Ramos was therefore left to stay at Benfica, where he has been amongst the goals having found the net 14 times in 21 games this season whilst adding six assists.
The 21-year-old appears to be a huge talent and he showed that for all the world to see on Tuesday night.
Newcastle don’t exactly need another striker right now but they would be wise to keep tabs on Ramos.
Benfica will be quids in now after this World Cup display and can likely demand a huge fee, but it’s clear that Newcastle were onto something when they looked into signing Ramos four months ago.
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