The Everton boss bought and sold the Spaniish international at Southampton.
Southampton’s Juanmi looks dejected
Everton boss Ronald Koeman has done a lot right in the transfer market. The arrival of Idrissa Gana Gueye and Ashley Williams in particular have been important toward the Merseyside club’s success.
He did similar good work at Southampton, but one transfer mistake it appears he might have made was with Spanish attacking midfielder Juanmi.
Sky Sports reported that the 2015 summer signing cost Southampton a fee in the region of £5 million, his release clause at his former club, and that looked a bargain for a recently-capped Spanish international.
But he struggled at Southampton under Koeman. Juanmi played just 161 minutes of Premier League football and struggled to deal with the more physical aspect of English football. He was then sold to Real Sociedad last summer.
Real Sociedad’s Juanmi and Burnley’s Tom Heaton in action
It was one of Koeman’s final acts before becoming Everton boss five days later and is now looking like a mistake.
The 23-year-old initially struggled on his return, scoring just once in his first 12 games. But since December he has been on fire, scoring 13 times in 28 games and becoming a star of the second half of the La Liga season.
Koeman got it wrong with Juanmi and fans at Everton will hope he does not make similar mistakes with several of their own players. Southampton will be wishing he had a chance to impress his new manager before Southampton pulled the trigger.
Everton manager Ronaldo Koeman
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