In Profile: Mohamed Elyounoussi

The 23-year-old Mohamed Elyounoussi arrives at St Mary’s with an impressive pedigree having joined from Swiss giants FC Basel, where he helped the side to a league title and the Swiss Super Cup.

The Moroccan-born, Norwegian international began his career at Sarpsborg, where he graduated from their academy before making his debut in May 2011 against Odds BK as a substitute.

The club suffered relegation to the second tier but that proved beneficial for such a burgeoning talent, who would find the net ten times in 29 appearances as they made a return to the top-flight.

In 2014, Elyounoussi made the move to fellow Tippaligaen side Molde FK, playing every league match in first season and ending it as the club’s top goalscorer with 17, winning the league title.

A total of 42 goals and eight assists during his time at Molde soon attracted interest from a number of potential suitors and he made the move to Swiss Super League side FC Basel in 2016, making his debut in a 3-0 win over FC Sion.

His first strike for Basel was just a week later during a 5-1 away win over Vaduz and, in February 2017, a first-half hat-trick helped Basel to success against Lugano.

At the end of the 2016/17 season, Elyounoussi had helped Basel to their eight title in a row with ten goals and 13 assists under the stewardship of Urs Fischer. They completed the double for only the sixth time in their history in the same season.

It was not just his domestic exploits that caught the eye, though. The forward also turned in impressive displays in the Champions League, including a man-of-the-match performance against Manchester City in the last 16 – scoring a goal and teeing one up to inflict a first home defeat of the season for the Citizens.

In the 2017/18 campaign, a significant goal contribution of 13 was accompanied by 17 assists, as he further marked himself out as one of Europe's brightest young talents.

An intelligent forward player, who is capable of playing a variety of attacking positions, Elyounoussi has already proved his worth on the international stage, racking up 16 caps and four goals already.

His form and ability caught the eye of a number of clubs, but it was Southampton who won the battle for him, with Elyounoussi joining Mark Hughes's squad ahead of the 2018/19 season.