Southampton are reportedly tracking Malaga's Juanpi Anor ahead of a potential January move.
Spanish websiteDigital Gol claimed that the Saints are keeping tabs on the £18m-rated midfielder and could look to make a bid for him in the next available transfer window.
However, the same site goes on to speculate that Malaga are looking to extend Juanpi's stay past his current contract expiry date, and want to increase his release clause fee to £25m in a bid to ward off interest from other clubs.
#SFC #saintsfc Southampton eye January swoop for Venezuelan star... he's been compared to¦ https://t.co/SeRP98pELq
Southampton manager Claude Puel is said to be a known admirer of the 22-year-old, and wants to add Juanpi to his first-team squad as he battles to maintain the standards set at St. Mary's by predecessors Ronald Koeman and Mauricio Pochettino.
The South coast club could face competition for the winger's signature, though, if Spanish journalist Guillem Balague's latest tweet is anything to go by, with the pundit even comparing Juanpi to Manchester City star Raheem Sterling.
Juanpi has risen through the youth ranks at La Rosaleda Stadium-based side to become an integral part of manager Juande Ramos' team.
I am hearing Juanpi (Malaga) is wanted by 3 top PL clubs. He is a kind of Sterling, huge potential
The Venezuela international broke into the senior setup in 2014/15, making his debut as a 76th minute substitute in the 3-0 loss to Valencia in August 2014.
Juanpi played a further nine times for Malaga that season, before breaking through on a more regular basis last term - the wideman making 30 appearances in all competitions.
And Juanpi has further cemented himself as a key first-team player under Ramos in 2016/17, featuring in all seven La Liga matches to date and registering one goal for Los Boquerones.
Capped nine times by his national side, Juanpi also scored his first international goal in Venezuela's recent international match against Argentina.
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