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.

Photo: Action Images

Stephen added 18:34 - Jun 16 I think they will be looking for one more striker.
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corkcitysaint added 19:27 - Jun 16 if we do get another one, he would be a "squad' striker I would think. Next is a central defender or 2..
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schatfield added 19:36 - Jun 16 is this good? he scored 8 goals with 28 starts in a poo league. He is quick, but so is Mayuka. I would have prefered someone with maybe a better strike ratio, that granted would have cost us more. Cant agree on us having 'a blistering array of firepower', Shane isnt consistent, Pelle had a huge goal drout last year, dont know what JRod will be like after injury yet. Sorry just not sharing same sense of enthusiasm.

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GeordieSaint added 20:14 - Jun 16 Wow schatfield, big statement that. La liga is poo? I suppose those Spanish lads haven't done much recently. I know now about this kid but if he is anywhere near the Spanish squad at 21 you would imagine he is half decent.
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schatfield added 21:00 - Jun 16 La liga is a 2 horse league, Barca and Real (ok, maybe 3 with Atletico), hence my comment. The others come nowhere and are fairly pedestrian
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bstokesaint added 22:05 - Jun 16 Is Les said they've been tracking the lad for some time then that's good enough for me. I think we have got a wealth of options in Pelle, Long, Mane, Rodriguez and the new lad. Yes, you could take a glass half empty approach on all of them individually, but at the same time we definitely have quality options when you look at them collectively.
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SaintNick added 22:50 - Jun 16 It amazes me when people doubt Pelle, only 8 players scored more Premier league goals than him last season and none of his goals were three kicks o penalties
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SanMarco added 23:18 - Jun 16 I didn't notice that many serious horses in our league schatfield. Sevilla won the Euro league and Valencia, Villareal and Bilbao are very good teams. I think the Pelle doubters would probably point to the length of his bad run. All forwards have bad spells but his did go on a bit. Hopefully we will be able to rest him occasionally next season.
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ElSanto added 23:36 - Jun 16 It's all about Mane next season. He will get us 13 goals if he stays fit. Pelle will get us another 13, plus he'll create another 15 (maybe not direct assists). J Rod can bag another 13, if fit. Long can get 8 and cause havoc. Juanmi? Tadic? ....exciting!!! Hopefully the defence can pull it out of the bag again next season and we COULD get higher.
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