Seydou Doumbia: African Striking Sensation on Fulham, Stoke, Wigan, Blackburn & Wolves Radar

A number of Premier League clubs are eyeing a move for Ivory Coast star Seydou Doumbia who took the Swiss top division by storm last season finishing top scorer despite starting just 8 league games.

Doumbia scored an impressive 20 goals in 32 league appearances for Young Boys despite 24 of those appearances coming from the bench. In fact, the 21-year-old only played 1362 minutes but still finished the season as top scorer. Not only did the African sensation score 20 goals but he also made 10 assists which sets him out as an exciting prospect for a number of sides. Although the youngster is a raw talent he has all the physical attributes to be a big hit in England with lightning pace, power and a blistering shot.

The striker has been a regular starter this term but has continued his excellent scoring record. Doumbia has scored 16 goals in 14 league appearances (13 starts) and unsurprisingly leads the Swiss scoring charts. He has now scored 23 goals in his last 22 matches for the club in all competitions including the winner in the Europa League qualifying 1-0 1st leg win at Athletic Bilbao. In his last five league games Doumbia has grabbed two hat-tricks and a brace which suggests he is in top form as the club lead the scoring charts.

The 5 ft 10 striker only moved to Switzerland in the summer of 2008 which illustrates just how big an impact he had last season. Young Boys finished runners-up in the league but the star of the show was definitely Doumbia who arrived from Tokushima Vortis for a bargain fee of 150,000 euros after 3 seasons in Japan. He had scored 7 goals in 16 league appearances for Vortis but was not expected to make the impact he did. In his first nine league games for Young Boys he managed 3 goals but started just once. However, from November to May he scored a staggering 17 goals in just 23 games and only started 7 of those matches.

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Doumbia has been capped twice for the Ivory Coast but has yet to score at that level. Fulham were reported to be leading the chase with Roy Hodgson’s knowledge of the lesser European leagues bringing the player to his attention. Doumbia spoke of this interest to Skysports.com, he said, “I have heard a lot about moving from Young Boys, but it is only rumours.”

“Fulham in the Premier League? It is flattering, but I am still young and I want to prove myself here before joining a top league.

“All this is in the hands of my club and my agent. I am calm and will see what happens.

“But one day I will play in England or Spain, as they are the best leagues in the world.”

Fulham are not the only club thought to be tracking Doumbia with Stoke, Wigan, Blackburn, Hull and Wolves all expressing an interest as they eye potential striking bargains. The player himself will be available for as little as £2million in January so is hardly a gamble and at 21 could be honed into a real asset if not straight away, definitely in the future.

Do you like the look of Seydou Doumbia? Would you take a gamble on the African star? Let’s hear your views.

Tags: Blackburn, Fulham, Hull, Ivory Coast, Seydou Doumbia, Stoke, Switzerland, Wigan, Wolves, Young Boys

This entry was posted on Monday, November 9th, 2009 at 16:54 and is filed under Features, Home Features, Transfer News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.