United signed a young Senegalese striker Mame Diouf this week from Molde. The 21 year-old has proved a great hit with the Norwegian club and has attracted interest from clubs around Europe. The fee is believed to be in the region of £4million.
Molde is the club that Sir Alex Ferguson signed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer from in 1996. The Norwegian, who is now reserve team manager at Old Trafford, like Diouf arrived with little herald but went on to prove a unreserved success as we all now.
The young striker is said to be in the same mold (excuse the pun) as Solskjaer in that he is a striker with good composure in front of goal and can stiff out a chance. Diouf has a good mentor in the shape of Solskjaer and he couldn’t hope for anybody better to learn from.
The big question is can Diouf make the step up from Norwegian league to Premier League. Well we won’t know until January at the earliest, as he will be staying at Molde till the end of the Norwegian season. All the signs are good though as he has a good physique, has pace to burn and a direct approach. If he achieves as much as Solskjaer did at Old Trafford then he will have done himself proud.
