Southampton secure services of Malaga and Spain starlet Juanmi

The talented Malaga menace has plenty of international experience at Under-19 level too, having won two consecutive UEFA European Championships, striking two goals in the 2011 competition in Romania, before the senior side eventually came calling.

It could be argued that Southampton don’t currently possess a recognised number 10 at the south coast club, with Sadio Mane, Dusan Tadic, Shane Long and Filip Djuricic having all regularly switched across various roles in attack during the previous term.

However, if deployed in that key creative position, Juanmi could potentially link-up with Italian hitman Graziano Pelle to deadly effect, with the frontman starting the past campaign in clinical form, before gradually stumbling towards the latter stages of the run-in.

Juanmi is a product of Malaga’s youth system, and became the Spanish top-flight club’s youngest ever goalscorer in 2010 when he managed to strike in a La Liga clash aged just 16, proving his potential was already evident at such a tender age.

The youngster enjoyed a brief loan stint at Racing Santander in 2013 but has gone on to make 43 league starts for his current employers, netting 18 times, which is all the more impressive considering he hasn’t been utilised as a proper striker on a regular basis.

A £5.1m fee is quite a modest deal in this current climate of the transfer window, but this is possibly due to Malaga’s recent financial difficulties, which have in fact eased lately.

Over the past two summers, the Saints have acquired the likes of Victor Wanayama, Pablo Osvaldo, Fraser Forster and Republic of Ireland international Long, with Juanmi becoming the latest talented transfer coup arriving at St Mary’s (12/1 for a top four finish 2015/16).