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Premiership winner Socino finds himself a new title-winning club
By Liam Heagney
Leicester Gallagher Premiership title winner Juan Pablo Socino has found himself a new club a month after leaving Welford Road, the Argentine midfielder joining the current Spanish champions UE Santboiana. Having arrived from Saracens in 2021, the 34-year-old went on to make ten appearances across all competitions for Steve Borthwick’s team.
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The return of Socino to the Spanish club effectively completes the circuit in his long professional career as he originally spent two months there as a 19-year-old in 2009 before moving to the UK for stints at Rotherham and Nottingham.
A spell at Dax in France followed before his return to Rotherham led to Newcastle signing him in 2014 and he went on to spend four seasons playing under Dean Richards before switching to Edinburgh and then trying his hand in Spain at El Salvador in 2019 before Saracens came calling.
On leaving Leicester, Socino wrote on Instagram: “Thanks to Leicester itself, we arrive the five of us and we leave with an extra member that has changed our lives forever, Mora we love so much that I don’t even know how to put it in words.”
Recently crowned Spanish champions for the first time in 16 years, a UE Santboiana statement after their signing of Socino read: “The Argentine international opener arrives in Sant Boi after being proclaimed champion of England with the Leicester Tigers. Prior to his move to Leicester, the new Santboiana signing has also been part of top international teams such as Saracens, Newcastle Falcons and Edinburgh.
“At the national team level, Juan Pablo made his debut in 2015 with Los Pumas, the Argentine national team, with whom he played in the 2015 Rugby World Cup held in England. Another positive aspect of this new addition is the knowledge that the player has of the Division of Honor as Socino played in Spain in the 19/20 season with SilverStorm El Salvador de Valladolid.
“Interestingly, the Argentine rugby player already wore the UE Santboiana jersey at the age of 21 in 2009, but only did so for two months. Socino is an out-half that can also play from the centre, characterised by a great vision of play and movement with the foot.
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“The Argentine becomes the club’s first professional reinforcement for the 2022/2023 season in which the UE Santboiana will defend the title of the Division of Honor and will also play in the final of the Iberian Cup and Spanish Super Cup.”
