A lot was expected of Juanmi when Southampton signed him. A young promising Spanish international; with bags of talent and very highly rated. However, he hasn’t quite settled in as well as people may have hoped as of yet.
The 22-year-old signed from Spanish club Malaga in the summer for a fee rumoured to be in the region of £5m. As of yet, he has made just three competitive appearances for the Saints; one start in the cup and two late substitute cameos in the Premier League. Although he had a few appearances in the Europa League for Southampton, they failed to qualify for the group stages.
This bears the question; can he break into the Saints side? He is clearly highly thought of by Koeman, or else he wouldn’t have signed him. It is likely that he was signed as a player for the future and therefore nothing special should be expected of him in the first few months as he begins to settle down in England and at Southampton. Remember, he is still just 22-years-old.
Juanmi was impressive in pre-season, scoring a few goals for Southampton and really looked the part in the number 10 role for Koeman’s men. He was a regular fixture on the score sheet in Southampton’s pre-season tour of Holland and it looked as though he may even start the season as a regular at one point. However, this has not been the case. He also managed an assist in Saints Europa League tie with Vitesse, teeing up Shane Long with a nice clipped ball to the back post. He rounded the ‘keeper before delightfully lifting the ball over the defender for Shane Long to head in Southampton’s third of the night in a 3-0 win over the Dutch outfit.
Had Southampton have qualified for the Europa League; Juanmi would have got significantly more game time. However, they were knocked out in the play-off round against Danish side Midtjylland. Although some fans saw being knocked out a blessing in disguise to help their league form, Juanmi has been adversely affected by their failure in Europe. If they got to the group stages then that, barring injury, would likely to have meant six more games for Juanmi to try to impress Koeman and force his way into the Premier League XI. This would have been invaluable experience for the young forward and would have helped him to adapt to Southampton’s style of play quickly as well as get some helpful minutes under his belt in order for him to further his development.
Juanmi will now be limited to substitute appearances here and there as well as cup games if Southampton can manage a run in the Capital One Cup or FA Cup. Southampton face Aston Villa at St.Mary’s next week in the Capital One cup looking to get through to the Quarter-Finals and the young Spaniard will be expecting to get some game time under his belt against the fellow Premier League side. It will be even more experience for the Spaniard to get under his belt; especially against a fellow Premier League team that should recreate the atmosphere/quality of play that a Premier League match would bring. This means that Juanmi will be able to showcase his talent against the quality of opposition that he will be wanting to force his way into playing against week-in-week-out in the Premier League.
Juanmi was certainly a hit at Malaga, scoring 18 goals in just over 80 games for the Spanish side and really turning heads whilst playing in the much talked about number 10 role. He was impressing people not only at club level; but on the international scene as well. He played 18 times for Spain’s Under-19 set-up, scoring eight times. An impressive return for the young forward in the hole. His form for both Malaga and previously for the Under-19 side got him on Vicente Del Bosque’s watch list. The Spain boss gave him his senior debut for Spain as he came on as a sub for Juventus’ Alvaro Morata in what was a 2-0 defeat for the Spaniards. So clearly Spain rate Juanmi and if the £5m price tag is anything to go by, so do Southampton. I do have a feeling he is much more likely to break into Southampton’s starting line-up than he is Spain’s. Although if he can break into the Saints squad and start playing well then what is to say that he can’t get himself into the Spain squad for next summers European Championships in France. Albeit being a likely fringe player that won’t feature.
So far this season, the likes of Sadio Mane, James Ward-Prowse and Dusan Tadic have all occupied that number 10 role that Juanmi likes to play and given Southampton’s attacking form so far this season; it will be a tough task for Juanmi to be able to break into the starting line-up. With Dusan Tadic and Sadio Mane both preferring to play out wide for Southampton this season and James Ward-Prowse saying that he would like to play in a deeper role; there could be space in the side for Juanmi to come in.
In my opinion from seeing him play in pre-season and in the Europa League, he looks promising. Falls under the ‘diminutive’ attacking midfielder role, of which Spain has produced the best in recent years. David Silva and Juan Mata come to mind. He is still young at 22 and has a lot of time to settle in at Southampton and develop further. We just need to give him time and I am certain that he will become an important player for Southampton in the coming seasons and hopefully for years to come.
Do you think that Juanmi can make the grade at Southampton?
Comments.
Loading comments…