Saints Confirm First Signing Of the Summer
Saints have confirmed the signing of Spanish International striker Juanmi from Malaga for a fee believed to be in the region of £5-6 million.
As reported on this site over the past week Saints have been on the verge of signing Malaga's Juanmi and now they have officially confirmed that he is the first signing of the summer.
Whilst the 21 year old does not seem to be signed as an automatic first choice striker, he will of course offer Ronald Koeman an option that he didn't have last season as well as strengthening a squad that will need to be fighting on four fronts from the word go next season including the Europa League.
Speaking on the club's official website Executive Director of Football Les Reed commented:
"Juanmi is a young, exciting and attacking player who fits into the club’s strategic plan perfectly.
"He has been tracked closely by our recruitment department for some time, and we were keen to act quickly when presented with the opportunity to bring this young player with international quality to Southampton.
"To have attracted a player of his potential at this early stage of the summer is testament to our determination to build upon the achievements of the 2014/15 season and to continue to implement our long-term plan for the future.
"We will fully embrace the challenge of the Europa League in the coming campaign, and want to develop further in Europe over the seasons to follow. Juanmi’s arrival is an important step in this process.”
Juanmi means Saints now have a blistering array of firepower, Graziano Pelle scored less than only 8 players in the Premier league last season and you can add to that the not insignificant contributions of Shane Long and Sadio Mane plus of course the returning from Injury Jay Rodriguez.
That means Saints have two players in Pelle and Rodriguez capable of 15 plus Premier league goals and three players capable of 10 goals plus in Long, Mane and Juanmi. That is some good options for Ronald Koeman and the competition can only be good for the players.
This being the case i would imagine that Saints will now give up any pursuit of other striking options and concentrate their transfer strategy on other areas.
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