On Tuesday evening, Southampton announced the capture of Malaga striker Juanmi on a four-year contract, marking Ronald Koeman’s first acquisition of the summer transfer window. The 22-year-old Spain international expressed his delight at making the switch to St Mary’s Stadium, insisting that the Premier League’s iconic brand of football should play to his strengths:
“It’s a pleasure to be here and I am looking forward to being a part of this club. I am anxious and I want to start as soon as possible. This is a big club and it has shown a lot of trust in me. The training ground is magnificent and likewise the stadium. It really, really is a big club. Since I was very young, it’s always been a dream for me to play in the Premier League. The style of football played here is similar to the way I play, so it’s a dream come true. Now I just want to start playing and to start scoring goals.”
The History
A Malaga native, Juanmi (Juan Miguel Jiménez López) spent three years in Malaga CF’s youth team from 2008. His first senior debut for the club arrived in January 2010, when he netted the Andalusians’ only goal as they were trounced 5-1 by Getafe – making him the club’s youngest ever (16 years old) goalscorer.
In the 2009/10 and 2010/11 campaigns, Juanmi found his time split between playing for the first-team and the Malaga B side. Nonetheless, he still managed to earn 17 league appearances in the 2010/11 campaign, tallying four goals and two assists in the process. The next one-and-a-half seasons harvested just seven appearances for the budding Spaniard, prompting a loan move to Segunda Division outfit Racing de Santander.
Despite failing to net throughout 19 outings for Los Verdiblancos (Green and White), Juanmi was afforded more regular playing time in the 2013/14 season by Malaga’s new head coach Bernd Schuster, who’d replaced the Manchester-City-bound Manuel Pellegrini. He recorded four goals across 22 appearances, yet was only granted 996 minutes of pitch time.
In the wake of Schuster’s sacking the following summer, Malaga’s current manager Javi Gracia took up the mantle and handed Juanmi a starting berth. In his final campaign before sealing a move to England’s top-flight, Juanmi registered eight goals and two assists, having clocked 2,232 minutes. His highlight arrived when he scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory over Barcelona at the Nou Camp in February – which, incidentally, is the last time the La Liga champions were bested on home turf.
Juanmi boasted a great record for Spain U19s, winning two successive U19 Euros (2011,2012) and carding eight goals in 19 outings. A debut senior cap arrived in March after Diego Costa pulled out of the squad through injury, with Vicente del Bosque handing him the central striker berth in a 2-0 friendly defeat to the Netherlands.
The Prospects
A pacy forward with a knack for running the channels, Juanmi could conceivably be fielded in any of the front four positions in Ronald Koeman’s favoured 4-2-3-1 set-up. He’s unlikely to usurp Graziano Pelle, though, given that the 5ft 61⁄2 inch Spaniard lacks the height and presence of a lone centre forward and has been far from prolific in La Liga – despite Pelle’s 14-match goal drought, he still mustered four more goals than the Saints’ latest recruit.
Koeman certainly has a wealth of options at his disposal to fill the roles in behind Pelle. The likes of Sadio Mane, Dusan Tadic, James Ward-Prowse, Shane Long, Eljero Elia and a returning Jay Rodriquez will all be tussling for that trio of berths, which surely heightens the risk of rotation.
Southampton’s qualification for the Europa League by virtue of a seventh-place finish should place an additional emphasis on squad shuffling. Everton plummeted from 5th to 11th place under the pressure of a European campaign last term, so there’s a certainly a question mark concerning the Saints’ capacity to cope with the extra fixtures.
Delving into the data, Juanmi clearly struggled to fashion many attempts on goal (37 in 34 appearances) last term, yet was clinical when these chances presented themselves. A shot conversion rate of 28.6% is superior to any member of the Saints squad, with Mane (18.3%), Elia (13.3%), Tadic (7.5%), Pelle (9.8%) and Long (13.5%) all posting vastly inferior figures. This should serve Juanmi well if Koeman opts to employ him as an impact sub at first to test the water, affording him a sustained run in the side if these cameos prove influential.
Given Koeman’s penchant for a target man up top – Pelle seems more secure in terms of starts, while Juanmi’s appeal could well be limited if, as expected, he’s listed as a forward across the Fantasy games. Indeed, with Rodriguez also anticipated to come in as a striker, Mane’s likely classification as a midfielder strengthens the Senegal international’s prospects.
Despite the reservations regarding rotation, the newly-released fixtures certainly boost the Saints’ prospects of a strong start. Koeman’s men face just two of last term’s top seven (United and Chelsea) in the opening nine Gameweeks, leaving them seven favourable clashes (new, EVE, wat, NOR, wba, SWA, LEI) to help them hit the ground running.
Juanmi could well be handed the platform to stake an early claim for regular starts. Given the fierce competition in attacking areas, he will surely have to seize any opportunity that comes his way.
