Juan Larios is the forgotten man for Southampton Football Club, after a promising start to his career at St Mary's after his move from Manchester City, injury has seen him miss most of the past 2 1/2 years, but now with signs of recovery, do Saints stick or twist.

When the then 18 year old Juan Larios arrived at St Mary's in the summer of 2022, there were high hopes that he would emulate the signing of a year previously when Tino Livramento shot to stardom in his first season.

Initially that looked like it could well be the case, after some solid appearances in the U21 side in Premier League 2, the Spaniard received his first team debut, starting the away game at Aston Villa in September 2022 and he became a regular in the first team matchday squad, in the 6 games following, he made 3 substitute appearances and the other 3 as an unused substitute.

In the 7th game though injury struck, Larios started the game against Newcastle at St Mary's and in the first 34 minutes looked the part, even though he was playing out of position at right back, but then he pulled a hamstring and thus begun his injury nightmare and he would not play again for the rest of the season.

Indeed he would not play a single game in Saints season in the Championship, so when he returned for the U21 side in Premier League 2 in August 2023 after nearly two years on the sidelines, there were hopes that he could start to justify why Saints had paid around £6 million for him.

After a couple of games in Premier League 2, he returned to first team action, his 89th minute cameo at Cardiff City in the EFL Cup, being a token appearance, but perhaps more of a statement that he was back.

But that hope did not last long and after a couple of more games back in the U21's, he was once again on the injury list.

That was back at the start of October, however he returned to U21 action 4 weeks ago and has since quietly got 3 starts under his belt, not as a full back but on the left of midfield.

He came off around the hour mark in all three of those games, but that is more about taking things a step at a time and more cautiously, than it is about his performance in the games.

His rehabilitation will continue in the lower impact U21's, but the question is what happens next, will he get a game or two later in the season for the first team and force his way into the squad for next season or will Southampton look to take the money and run in the summer.

If it is about staying here next season and he stays fit, then he could well be an asset, ability wise he would be the best option that we would have as a full back, but will the club want to risk him breaking down injured again.

On the plus point, the past month he has been fit and the 3 games he has played is promising, but it is about making those 3 appearances 6 and them up to 9, showing that he can stay fit for a long period.

If that is not the case then there appears to be interest in Larios from his native Spain, with two years left on his contract, the club might also prefer this option, his value is still not far off what we originally paid for him and if we got say £4-5 million and a percentage of a transfer fee going forward, it might be a better bet than gambling that he has recovered.

I an sure Juan Larios himself is the most frustrated in the whole affair, he would much rather have been playing for what is now nearly the last 2 1/2 years and at 21 he still has plenty of time to realise his full potential, whether that will be at St Mary's will soon to be decided.

All Photos Via Reuters

underweststand added 11:01 - Mar 20 The real question is surely.. how many left backs do we need in the club?. Personally, I was sad to see Perraud depart, but Russell Martin was quick to ditch him after playing him at CB in one disasterous Cup game. At the moment we have also Charlie Taylor, Wellington, as well as a Manning ,who (IMHO) doesn't rate as a good Championship defender, and both the on-loan Edwards and Wood-Gordon are left-sided players, whilst almost everyone would admit that KWP is the best FB in the club - on either side of the pitch. However, your question was about Larios - wasn't it?. At present he is (sensibly) being eased back to full fitness in " half games" with U21's. IF he has no adverse effects, and gets through a pre-season without problems, then it will be the " Manager of the Month " (whoever that will be ) to make a decision about his future. Larios is under contract until 2027, so there is no panic for a change of mind, but when fit he will want to get regular game time, and want a move if he can't nail down the LB spot in front of the others (named above). We could surely re-coup the £6 mill. fee in today's market, especially if he returns to Spain, but the club may regret selling him, if he turns out to become another Gareth Bale.

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Bowlercow added 11:06 - Mar 20 I think we should keep him From the little we saw of him he is quick but small.Stature wise he reminded me of the great Alan Ball Although he played as a full back he is too small to be a defender so I am glad to see him in m/f which also makes more usefulb
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StillaSaint added 11:26 - Mar 20 Keep him he has massive potential . Why sell him now he is getting back to full fitness . And yes agree could be a great LM / LW The team lacks players to take the game to the opposition , he could turn out to be a star player for us
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Colburn added 16:07 - Mar 20 Ditto StillaSaint.. we have few with his ability and positivity on the ball, keep him!
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Block8 added 18:32 - Mar 20 We need to plan for next season and beyond (difficult to believe but we do plan apparently) and if he is fit we need to keep him!
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mascott514 added 20:46 - Mar 20 Also not been mangled by paying in this horror season. He starts fresh if he's ready to go- I hope he is ok- he deserves a big big break
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