Sékou Mara signs for Southampton FC

The Girondins de Bordeaux can now officially confirm the departure of Sékou Mara. The young striker, a product of our youth academy, has signed for Premier League side Southampton. Born in July 2002 in Paris, Sékou Mara started out with local side AC Boulogne-Billancourt. He rapidly caught the eye of Bordeaux's scouts, and signed for the Girondins in 2015. He stayed in his home region of Île-de-France for two more seasons, before finally making the move south to Bordeaux in 2017, at the tender age of 15. Sékou worked his way up through the youth teams at Bordeaux, while also becoming a fixture of the France youth set-up. He has played regularly at international level since 2017, representing France with the U16s, U17s, U20s and now U21s.

Sékou was promoted to Bordeaux's first-team squad for the 2020-2021 season, making his debut in the Coupe de France against Metz on 10 February 2021. One of the brightest young talents in French football, Mara is a highly adaptable attacking player capable of switching things up in midfield and getting into dangerous positions seemingly at will. He has gone from strength to strength over the course of his two professional seasons with Bordeaux, scoring 7 goals and delivering 4 assists in 36 appearances. His strong performances for the Girondins have been matched by his contributions to the France U20 side. Just recently, in June 2022, he lifted the Maurice-Revello Cup with the national team. Along the way, Sékou picked up the golden boot as top scorer, and was voted second best player of the tournament. Positive and hard-working, Sékou has grown up at our club, but now the time has come for him to write the next chapter in his footballing development. We will be keeping a close eye on his progress in the Premier League, and we wish him all the very best for the rest of his career.