Juan Arza, who became the first player to be transferred from Málaga CF, has died in Sevilla at the age of 88 years.
In the 1942-43 season, 23 year old Juan Arza played in 25 official matches and scored 18 goals for Málaga in the Second Division. However, Málaga’s precarious financial situation forced the president of the club, José Soriano Alba, to agree to a transfer.
On July 7th 1943, Sevilla paid an initial €50,000 pesetas and signed two promissory notes for 25,000 pesetas each for the 23 year old.
Juan Arza went on to play 349 games for Sevilla, scoring 182 goals and has the distinction of being the club’s only ever ‘pichichi’ – top scorer.