Zambian striker Emmanuel Mayuka has finally cut his ties with English Premiership side Southampton and has opted to join French Ligue 2 side FC Metz.
The 24 year old striker moves to France on a permanent three year deal.
A statement on the Southampton website confirmed the development.
“The Zambian forward signed for Saints in August 2012. His spell at St Mary’s proved to be unsuccessful, with just one goal in a total of 19 appearances,” the Saints statement read in part.
Metz are currently leading the ligue 2 table on 13 points from five games.
Ba zamfoot is this a big move? Anyway I m happy that he’s found a club.
If I were Mayuka I’d fire my agent. His agent should’ve fought tooth and nail to get Mayuka a club at least in the more competitive championship in England. Having said that, Mayuka now needs to rebrand himself from the scratch. He may be 24 but soccer is a short career and time waits for no one. All the best in France.
This is a big move considering that he joined a big club with potential to win promotion.
Good move for him.At least he’ll be able to re-gain his confidence and form from the lower league before he plays in the more competitive ligue1
Paddy this is a good move. Mayuka’s agent is actually smart. Metz is the strongest team in ligue 2 and will win promotion to ligue 1 and by that time Mayuka would have established himself as the number 1 striker at this club. This was a clever move if you ask me.
I hope I’m wrong and you’re right john. Time will tell. However we can’t blame Southampton or the English league for Mayuka’s fall from grace. He went there on the back of a very successful stint in Switzerland and then followed it up with a superb Afcon 2012. Expectations for him to hit the groud running in the EPL were very high. We can argue about the insufficient game time he got but truth is that a lot of players find the transition to the EPL very difficult. Diego Forlan, Sebastian Veron, Falcao, Lamela, not forgetting our very own Mbesuma etc.
There are exceptional cases who become instant success but the majority need to be exposed to the English cultural aspect of the game before announcing their arrival on the scene. That’s why the championship is the best platform to use when heading to the premiership.
France is better than the racist Russian league and the highly biased English leagues which were likely to keep him on the bench. Mayuka must never return to England. No zambian should play in england until zambia qualifies for the world cup.
Good move for Mayuka .Let us hope he consolidates that starting position so he can play on a regular basis and help Metz gain promotion to Ligue 1.
Trim down a bit and watch the offside line Mayuka.
have said it before that some people on this platform talk cheap all the time.they want mayuka to find a club in England where he has failed.be it championship mayuka will still flop.mayuka move to metz is a joyous one as the boy will get some playing time and eventually become prolific once again.
My friend playing time doesn’t come on a silver plata. You earn it. Just because he has now gone to France doesn’t mean he’ll be guaranteed playing time. It’s good he’s found another club yes but that doesn’t automatically mean he will be given playing time on the cheap. Football is business and competition for places is high. Do some research before posting some of these comments.
This is a good move by Mayuka. He will surely rediscover his form. Metz is likely to win promotion back in the ligue 1 at the end of the season. I am happy for Mayuka.
Good move but Mayuka will need to put his back into it. To be honest guys the boy was not ready for the premiership! For our players the route to take is via France ligue2. Jacob Mulenga spent a very successful three yrs in this ligue B4 a move to the Dutch league. Barring injuries he would have moved to the EPL. We must work smart! Get our boys in lower leagues in Belgium, France, Portugal etc, at token fees. If successful big clubs will come calling. To try and get a below average novice to sign for ligue1 Lille smacks of stupidity and avarice; in case the other club is naïve, cash in!
You’re spot on. That’s exactly how a lot of players from West African do it. That’s the best way to smoothly gel into the European leagues. If you remember the late coach for Senegal Bruno Metsu rounded up unknown players from various lower leagues in Europe and came up with the team that reached the quarter finals at the World Cup.
mayuka is stil young, he can go back 2 england in future if he wishes
I would rather he goes to La liga, Germany or better still their in ligue 1. England is not always good for certain players.
Good luck in France, don’t go back to useless England. Let them keep west Africans. We don’t care.
congrats Mayuka
TC Soccerman I am disappointed in your comment. Since when did England and the english league become useless? If a player due to his own laziness unable to pull his weight at training to get game times why do u blame somebody.this guy was given the good opportunity under his own former coach who knows him very well in the french league but what did he do? it seems he enjoy warming the bench.Even though i am wishing him all the best in France it wont come as a surprise to me if he continues with his ussual bench warming.
England is not good for Mayuka! Even if he went back he can never make it. It is a very tough competitive league with very good players in all premier league teams. Look at jordan Ayew, he is already struggling at Villa, two straight games now, no game time!
Hey, it’s a good move. playing games is more important than anything!!!!!!!!
Let us hope he can do that.
The best move for him. He needs to repay the faith this club has shown him by scoring. Stop putting your back to the goal and start firing on all cylinders. Congrats! The agent did a good job. Please improve on the scoring because you are a striker and not a midfielder – be ruthless at goal. Wishing you all the best.