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After signing six players in the summer transfer window, it seems likely that the transfer deadline day would be a rather quite day in St. Mary's. Up until that point, the club had signed Fraser Forster, Ryan Bertrand, Florin Gardos, Dušan Tadić, Graziano Pellè, and Shane Long. However, it turned out to be quite a busy day for the club as two new additions joined the club, with Toby Alderweireld and Sadio Mané coming to the south coast. We'll talk about the former later on, but first let's take a closer look at the latter.
Mané was signed from Austrian Bundesliga side, Red Bull Salzburg, for a fee reported to in the region of £10m. It may seemed to be a hefty price tag for someone playing in a relatively weaker league compared to Premier League.
But here's an evidence why he may worthy every penny:
And another one:
Mané was deployed almost exclusively on the left side of midfield or attack, where the right-footed midfielder can use his dribbling skills and pace to cut inside past defenders. He's also no slouch in front of goal as shown in both videos above. Off the ball, he also has the tendency to get in positions where he can score goals, a positive trait that led him to score 45 goals in 85 appearances for Red Bull Salzburg.
In fact, it is precisely for his goalscoring ability that manager Ronald Koeman decided to shell out approximately £10m for Mané:
"It is incredible how many goals he has scored from his position, and I hope that he will do the same for us."
While the level of competition in English football will be undoubtedly much tougher than the Austrian Bundesliga, Mané seems to have the potential as well as the abilities to succeed in the Premier League. Playing as one of the three attackers in Southampton's 4-3-3 formation alongside Tadić and Pellè, should bring out the best out of the Senegalese international and gave The Saints a formidable frontline trio week-in and week-out.
He might flew under the radar among the flurry of new names in Premier League, but if he can continue his development in an upward trajectory, he will be in everybody's radar for sure.
Videos courtesy of baniHD Football Talents, stats courtesy of soccerway.com