Juan, or Juan Maldonado Jaimez Junior to give him his full name, joined Arsenal in the summer of 2001.
The Brazilian left-back was small, fast and skilful and, at the age of 19, had bags of potential.
But it didn’t quite work out for him at Highbury.
Juan made an impressive debut in the League Cup against Grimsby Town, playing a full 90 minutes in a 2-0 win.
He did even better in his second appearance. A surprise call-up for the FA Cup Fifth-Round tie against Gillingham in February 2002, Juan thrived alongside an experienced back line of Tony Adams, Sol Campbell and Lee Dixon.
His marauding runs down the left flank caused Gillingham no end of problems and a perfect cross to set up a goal for Ray Parlour capped a memorable day for the young Brazilian.
But that was his last first-team appearance for the Club. Juan put in some impressive performances for the Reserves but, with Ashley Cole and Gael Clichy ahead of him in the pecking order, he made no further headway.
A brief loan spell at Millwall followed before Juan returned to Brazil to join Fluminense and then Flamengo.
Juan
