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Coming from Malaga in Spain, Juanmi was a player who received tons of praise for his potential and being a quality attacker. But maybe that was just in Spain, because it seemed like he just couldn't get it together in England. Maybe it was the lack of match time, or just struggling to adapt away from home, Juanmi was a disappointment.
Only making 19 appearances, most off of the bench, Juanmi was unfortunately very underwhelming. Quite like Gaston Ramirez, who also feel out of favor, Juanmi just couldn't click and adapt to the league. He was a bit too slow on the ball, very weak, and was moved off of the ball constantly.
It's not all fair to just blame Juanmi. I am not sure he was a fit for Saints anyways. Saints love younger players, and needed depth, but Juanmi was still in development and we may have expected too much from him. Southampton was going to need Juanmi to produce in Europe, and in the cups. Saints didn't last long in any of those and that's where the wheels fell off.
Without either cup, or Europe, Juanmi could only find playing time with the U-21s, which didn't do him much good. So maybe if some other things fell his way, Juanmi would still be a Saint, but he's not, so we move on and I hope he goes back home and bosses it.
SMM FINAL GRADE: 4/10
SMM Summary: A disappointment as Juanmi heads back home with little produced on the south coast. It was a tough go for the young Spaniard, and we hope and think he'll do well back in Spain. As George Galpin said, it would be nice to stick a sell-on clause on Juanmi because he could very well go on to do big things. Goodbye Juanmi, at least your name was cool.