According to the Spanish newspaper "AS" Southampton are about to sign a striker from Spanish club Malaga.

The news is not really news in the respect that Saints have been heavily linked with Malaga striker Juanmi or to give him his full name Juan Miguel Jiménez López over the past week or so.

As reported on this site last week the striker is available for a release clause fee of around 7 million euros so could be worth a punt as Ronald Koeman seeks to build up his squad for a potential Europa League campaign as well as to fight on all three domestic fronts.

The 21 year old has really burst on the scene for Malaga this season and won his first cap for Spain in the process, however he is relatively untried at present and would surely be seen as a squad player at first rather than an automatic choice.

However he is the type of player Saints should be looking at if they want to cement in place a transfer process where when a player is sold his replacement is already at the club

Photo: Action Images

Sanguin added 10:47 - Jun 15 He turned 22 last month! Looks like a great piece of business, although I’d still rather see Charlie Austin come in. That would give us Pelle, Austin and Juanmi as competition for out-and-out strikers. With players like Mane, Rodriguez and Long able to play there or on the wing. I do wonder what a signing like this will mean for some of our younger striking talent though. It feels like Sam Gallagher is getting towards the point where he either needs to get first team games or move on. It seemed that they really rated Jake Hesketh after he started against Man Utd, but we never saw him again after he picked up that injury.

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IWOZTHERE added 11:35 - Jun 15 There's no doubt that developing young talent to replace more established players has and will continue to make good business sense. It's a question of degree though. It worked last year but you can't expect to adequately replace a 20m player with a 3 or 4m player and get away with it in every case. We could probably 'tread water' for a few seasons but I doubt we'd make progress.Every year we'll be waiting for the rapists to come in. What message does it send out to our top players and potential signings about ambition? This year in particular, spend some money and lay down a marker early, give the players and supporters some confidence that we're not going to be turned upside down again.

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PhantomTippler added 11:36 - Jun 15 Isn't he everyone's favourite cigar smoking Spanish golfer?
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