Reports in France are claiming Saints have agreed terms with French side Bordeaux for their centre forward Sékou Mara, but is he the striker Saints need is the question.

According to French media sources Southampton have had a bid accepted for Sékou Mara, journalist Clement Carpentier, has made the following claim on social media.

"Saints have made an offer to Bordeaux to sign the 19-year-old. Their bid consists of €11m plus €2m in bonuses and an additional 10 percent fee from a potential future sale of the striker."

"Bordeaux have ‘accepted’ Southampton’s bid for the France U21 international, who is set to arrive at St Mary’s Stadium, and will sign a five-year deal with the Premier League club. "

Other French media sources have also backed up the story and also speak of Bordeaux suffering financial issues that are forcing them to sell a player who only signed a new deal back in March.

Mara is a centre forward who has broken into the Bordeaux squad on a regular basis this season, notching 6 goals in 26 appearances in Ligue 1, however only 8 of those appearances have been starts and the 19 year old who will turn 20 later this month has been mainly used as an impact player.

He has been capped at various youth levels up to France's U21 side, although he also qualifies for the Senegalese national team.

The sources seem to be quite good, although the transfer fee of around £9.5 million in our money quoted, seems to be quite high for a player who is said to be valued at around a third of that, this could be more about the selling club trying to big up the fee to placate fans as well creditors.

France Football News reports that Leeds, Newcastle and Aston Villa were all showing interest in who they describe as a Bordeaux Wonderkid, but it is Saints who have won the race.

Certainly it seems that in France they think that this is a done deal.

Photo: Action Images

PeterL22 added 11:21 - Jul 21 Another gamble! Highlights on YouTube look interesting (he may well be entertaining- but so is Djenepo!), but he is only 19 so tough ask for him to start in PL and save us.
-1

highfield49 added 11:39 - Jul 21 Maybe foolishly I'm going to be optimistic if this rumour turns into a permanent deal. Yes, he's young, inexperienced and Bordeaux probably can't afford not to sell him in their financial situation. However, he is a centre forward and not a jack of all trades, actually scores goals and can certainly be utilised as an impact player. If he's as good as or better than Broja then he could well be a bargain. It looks as though several other teams have made enquiries but were hoping for a cut price deal which may prove to be an egg on face strategy for the clubs that have dithered. Signing Mara seems to be less of a gamble than chasing another championship player who can't make the grade at top level.

5

underweststand added 11:45 - Jul 21 At least we're not going to spend a fortune on an unproven talent, but we REALLY do need to sign a mature striker with proven goal-scoring record. Like our own B team lads they may look good at their own level, but this is BIG league stuff and there's no room for a team full of " talented kids " when we come up against the City's, MU L'pool and Chelsea's in this league. Hope we have a " big signing " still in the planning.

3

JoeEgg added 12:01 - Jul 21 Have to agree with underweststand. We need some proven experienced talent to work alongside the promising young players coming in. For me Ralph has not helped the young players by the system he plays and the tactics he employs. A perfect example is Thierry Small who really has talent but has looked awful playing for Saints. Ralph has a chance to show that he HAS learnt some lessons after three pretty disappoiting seasons. Once again we have the potential but we need some experience on the pitch and a manager right for all these 'talented kids'!

-1

darthvader added 12:15 - Jul 21 5 goals in the last 7 games is good. He will need to keep that up to keep us fans happy. Broja was 19 when we signd him on loan so age isn't a problem let's just give him a chance and get behind the lad
6

landsdownsaint added 12:15 - Jul 21 I agree with Peterzl22 , with all these players of the future theirs not gonna be much experience out there , if we get a sending off early against any of the big teams expect a 9 plus more ! I feel we got owners that are taking a gamble of our club without a care about us supporters , I really can’t believe how many players we still got that ain’t PL & we’re still bringing in players that probably won’t be either ( hope I’m wrong ) has RH got a problem with experienced players that he hasn’t nurtured himself due to ego ? I’m still RH camp but can’t see he’s learnt any lessons

-3

GRIM added 12:33 - Jul 21 I wouldn't want to be an Academy player with Saints at the moment because the club is clearly intend on buying young players rather than bringing them up from their own Academy. This French lad might be another for the future but like all the other signings we've made he's unproven at PL level. It'll be interesting to see many of them get regular games in 1st team. If most of them get in it will just highlight how bad our current squad is. We live in hope that the club has aces up their sleeve & bring in some experienced quality players at the last minute if they don't then we'll be in a relegation battle from day one.

1

dirk_doone added 12:40 - Jul 21 I'm going to be positive about this signing. The stat that stands out for me is that he's scored 5 of his 7 career league goals in his last 7 appearances. He's also scored 4 goals in his last 6 games for France U20s. We may have caught a player on the cusp of being a star striker, just before his transfer value soars. Bienvenue à Southampton.
5

RedandWight added 13:03 - Jul 21 I watched his youtube highlights, I can't say I was overly impressed. I was left thinking, well, we already have 1 Moussa Djenepo....... But lets end on a positive; The coaching staff probably think he is 'one for the future' and we have an experienced striker coming to the club soon :)
-2

SaintPaulVW added 13:07 - Jul 21 Looks a good bet. Perraud, Valery and Diallo often warmed up together before games. I'm sure he will fit right in. Allez Les Saints!
2

derbydog added 13:42 - Jul 21 Of course it’s a good deal. Broja now worth 30 mill apparently after just 6 goals but we didn’t have a deal in place to keep him. We could buy three of these relative unknowns for that money and only need one of them to be any good and go on to have a resale value to be in profit. Time for Che and Adam to step up backed up by a couple of unknowns of promise plus Tella plus say Ballard and it begins to look promising. I’d rather see this kind of speculation than us buy for example a Wellbeck at 20m plus. Or dare I say it, a Walcott… We are going to be a team of young players of promise and potential resale value not a team of oldies looking for high wages. The key to making this work is to get JWP signed up to it and looking after the kids during games. Finally, if we are full of oldies on big contracts they will all want to leave if the worst happens. We may keep the majority of these great unknowns to get us back up if it does. just sayin’

0

felly1 added 14:21 - Jul 21 This looks a done deal now as Bordeaux have said he's coming over to Southampton to do his medical. Fingers crossed it all goes through and he turns out to be a steal at the money we're paying. Just seen Ben Mee has signed for Brentford. Now there's your experienced CB that we should have signed. Nick would have had kittens if we'd signed him!!
-1

Colburn added 16:49 - Jul 21 Only time will tell.. At least he's scored goals at a top level and sounds like he improved through the season to become a threat. I would hope though that we are still looking to bring in that one experienced proven goalscorer. I don't understand why we haven't tried to buy Dennis, goals and assists last season, maybe we have..
0

DellBoyWally added 17:02 - Jul 21 His stats of goals per minute should have him around the 21 mark in a full season!! I don't understand this about getting used to the higher league and other rollocks. Yes defences and goalies are better but the first, and major, criterium is to hit the target!! When any of our strikers or midfielders take a shot there is always a rapid game of "Spot the Ball". And it's always higher than we guessed! I did see a shots-on-target-per-attempts stat somewhere and it was obscenely awful. Try getting that bit right and we might surprise some people. Particularly Ralph!!!

0

Block8 added 17:32 - Jul 21 Hopefully a good signing but as many have mentioned only time will tell. Just a reminder Shearer scored a hat trick on his full debut at 17 years old! I am really hoping we become a bit less risk adverse in the last third this season and when the strikers make a run maybe, just maybe, we can risk a through ball now and then? We have the pace up front but don't use it.
0

mancuniansaint added 17:38 - Jul 21 Would be great if he turns out to be as good as our last Senegalese signing (Sadio). Cautiously hopeful.
1

Saidou added 18:09 - Jul 21 Is this the kid the club is hoping would score the goals needed to keep us up?
-2

ExiledSupporter added 18:19 - Jul 21 Perhaps worth the gamble, but unlikely to be capable of playing and scoring consistently for a season or two. We need a proven mature strikes...what about the likes of Iheanacho of Leicester, or the Dembele guy at Lyons?
0

redwight added 19:09 - Jul 21 felly1 has beaten me to it, but I can't help but think that if we had made the signings that Forest have, then we would all be more than happy. Nico Williams, Dean Henderson and now possibly Lingard and Mee. So many problem positions solved if only we had been prepared to look closer to home. It surely can't be the case that they have a bigger budget? Can it???
0

RedandWight added 19:14 - Jul 21 I still don't think he is the finished article that we really need. Still hoping for Dembele
-1

Blogs 32 bloggers

Shrewsbury Town Polls