Less than two months before Mauricio Pellegrino was sacked at Southampton, he signed Guido Carrillo from AS Monaco in January.
The striker made five starts for the Saints in the league during the second half of last season and all of them came when the Argentine was in charge at St Mary’s Stadium.
Mark Hughes replaced the 47-year-old at the South Coast club, and the latter was appointed as the manager at Leganes in the summer.
Carrillo struggled for minutes under the former Stoke City boss and was therefore allowed to leave the club on a temporary spell.
The 27-year-old has given interview to Spanish radio station Hora Blanquiazul and revealed that there were several other clubs interested in securing his services on loan, but he decided to reunite with Pellegrino.
When asked if his compatriot had influenced his decision to sign for Leganes, the frontman said said: “Mauricio called me directly. It was all very fast.”
“They had called me from other clubs here in Spain, but I did not hesitate when Mauricio called me. He told me about the project and knowing that I wanted minutes, I did not doubt it. I knew Leganes because I was following La Liga and I confirmed that the project I was seeing is good.
“I’ve known Mauricio since I played in Argentina. He called me to play at Southampton. We did not share much time there and now we have reunited here at Leganes.”
Carrillo so far has eight appearances in La Liga and has scored two goals in the process.
