By Sam Stone

21st Jul, 2022 | 12:00pm

View: Southampton have landed an absolute gem in Sekou Mara

Southampton have agreed on a deal for Bordeaux’s 19-year-old forward Sekou Mara and the Saints have landed themselves one of the hottest young talents in Ligue 1.

The Saints’ excellent early business has continued as talkSPORT reported (21 July) that an £11million deal has been agreed for the youngster to move to St Mary’s.

After the teenager’s season in the French top flight, there is every chance he will go on to be a huge success and asset for the Premier League side going forward.

Sekou’s underlying stats put him amongst some of the best players in the French league and fans should get really excited about his arrival.

As per Wyscout Mara ranks in the top 20 for expected goals (0.49) per 90 in Ligue 1, and even ranks higher than Lionel Messi and Neymar.

From his statistics, the forward gets himself in the position to score a goal every other game which is an encouraging statistic for such a young player.

Mara’s most impressive stat is his eagerness to shoot, with the 19-year-old ranking third in the entirety of Ligue 1 for shots per 90 min (3.51).

The youngster ranks just behind Kylian Mbappe and in front of the great Messi in this metric.

This is a promising sign for his move to Premier League with the youngster not afraid to have an effort on goal when given the chance.

Another encouraging statistic for Saints fans is that his actual output of seven goals was close to his expected goals.

This demonstrates that this season wasn’t a fluke and he could well develop further whilst with the Saints.

In other Southampton news, Ralph Hasenhuttl is keen to add some firepower to his strikeforce and has identified this England youth international as the man for him.