The imminent arrival of Sékou Mara at St Mary's has a feeling of deja vou to last August when Armando Broja arrived at the club, so here we look at both players and whether our new signing can match the Chelsea loanee.
Although this is a permanent deal said to be in the region of £9 million plus add ons and the arrival of Broja last summer was a loan deal, both players are/were at a similar stage in their careers when they joined Saints.
Both were only 19 but on the verge of turning 20 within weeks, both are out and out centre forwards, Mara standing at 6ft with Broja 6ft 2 inches and both had just had their first full season of regular football, Mara at his parent club Bordeaux and Broja out on loan at Vitesse Arnhem.
So how do they compare in that first season.
Mara played 26 games in Ligue 1 in France, although only 8 of those games had been in the starting line up and the other 18 were off the bench..
He had scored 6 goals in 893 minutes of football, a goal every 148 minutes.
Armando Broja played 30 times in the Eridivisie in Holland, 21 of those were in the starting line up and 9 off the bench.
He scored 10 goals in 1,874 minutes on the pitch, a goal every 187 minutes.
So although Broja's stats initially look to be better, the reality is that he took more minutes on the pitch for each goal, to compare that with his season at St Mary's, he played 1,980 minutes and scored 6 times in the Premier League, that makes 330 minutes per goal.
So it terms of goalscoring it could be said that Mara has the edge here, not only has he a better goals per minute ratio, but he did it in a side that were relegated where Broja did it in a side that finished fourth.
In terms of type of goal Mara's 6 goals were varied, 3 were right footed shots, 1 was a left footed shot and 1 was a penalty.
Broja's 10 goals were 8 right footed shots and 2 from his left foot with none from his head, in his season with Saints all of his 6 Premier League goals were with his right foot, as were his 3 goals in cup competitions.
So in this comparison Mara comes out on top again in terms of his overall threat, he offer an aerial threat that Broja despite his height advantage doesn't.
So if we compare their styles of play what do we find.
scoutingfootball,co,uk has this to say about Mara
Mara was a potential versatile goalscorer, he looks to be an aerial threat, get’s into good box positions, and is confident with shooting from range.
Pros
Has great flair and skill variety.
Good strength on the ball when under pressure from a defender.
Cons
Loses possession after initial successful dribble e.g. heavy touch, loose control, poor decision making, over dribbling, lack of bigger picture.
His shot selection is very questionable, he takes ambitious shots from long-range including a few from the halfway line — needs to establish a traditional goal-scoring method rather than have a shoot-on-sight mentality.
Potential Ability
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Rating: 3 out of 5.
Does he have world-class potential? Not right now. Next season with a bigger role and more responsibility I think is when we see the bigger picture and more clarity on his trajectory.
Broja
Broja has a no nonsense playing style that relies on running at defenders, but he lacks versatility, most of his goals came from his right foot, he offered little aerial threat at either Vitesse or Saints, his lack of goals in second half of the season at St Mary's could partially be put down to Saints lack of form, but also to the fact that opponents got a little wise to him.
Pros
Has good strength on the ball and can be unplayable.
Cons
Too often loses possession or is boxed off, lacks the ability to make runs off the ball and create space for others, doesn't offer an aerial threat or much with his left foot.
Potential Ability
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Rating: 3 out of 5.
At times Broja looked brilliant for Southampton, but at other times looked lost, he is still learning and undoubtably can make a career in the Premier League where their is a niche for a big bustling centre forward, but at the moment is not in the class of others in the same mode, Richarlison or Antonio for example.
Needs to bring more variety to his game.
Does he have World Class potential ? Not so far, he will score goals, but he doesn't have enough in his locker to be truly World Class.
So in conclusion there are a lot of similarities between both players in terms of the season they had before joining Saints, they are both out and out centre forwards, but their playing styles are different.
From a Saints coaching perspective they will feel that Sékou Mara brings more to the team than Armando Broja did, the aerial threat especially was something we lacked up front, some supporters gave a lot of stick to our wingers, Nathan Redmond and Theo Walcott in particular but truth is Broja was never suited to getting on the end of crosses, his game was about the ball on his feet and running at defenders, therefore our wide men were struggling to find a target to hit.
Broja will suit a team like Everton or West Ham where they look to play the ball quickly to the central striker, but at St Mary's we play more out to the wing when going forward and this didn't suit Broja.
So it is hard to say who is the best player, Broja is a year ahead of Mara in his development and career, whereas the Frenchman is an unknown quality.
Yes he offers variety but you could say that about Djenepo.
Signing Sékou Mara is going to be a gamble, on paper he offers more, but can he produce in the Premier League, when the signing is complete, we have three strikers if Adam Armstrong stays and he along with Che Adams will provide balance.
If the former Blackburn man goes out on loan, then we need to bring in another striker, we cannot go just with two given the inexperience of Mara.