“I like young people who are hungry, who want to work and he is one of them, it's a little one who is very intelligent, who has a lot of qualities, I see him making a good career”. Live on Ligue 1+ last weekend, Jean-Louis Gasset was very complimentary with regard to Sékou Mara, an attacker that the experienced coach launched in May 2021. Trained at the Girondins de Bordeaux, the player, then 18, had given his team victory over Stade Rennais.
For four years, Mara has not confirmed at the high level. The Paris native shone with the French U20 team during the 2021-2022 season (6 goals in 10 games), before being recruited 11 million euros by Southampton. He failed to win in the saints in the Premier League but did not explode in the following season (2023-2024) in championship either.
Back in Ligue 1 in 2024, recruited for 12 million euros by RC Strasbourg, Sékou Mara also disappointed. He certainly marked at the Parc des Princes, during a 4-2 defeat against PSG, but then missed the opportunity to shake the nets by entering the place of Emanuel Emegha or during the absences of the Dutch scorer of the Alsatian training. His two other goals under the orders of Liam Rosenior were registered in the Coupe de France.
Sékou Mara loaned after the end of the transfer window
Sékou Mara experienced a difficult summer, affected by a family drama. The footballer is the son of TF1 presenter Audrey Crespo-Mara and Thierry Ardisson, his stepfather since the age of 7, died on July 14. At the same time, during the preseason, the 23-year-old striker saw the RCSA recruit a centers in Liga 2 for 16.5 million euros, namely Joaquin Panichelli.
The former blueberry did not find a taker at the end of the transfer window but Strasbourg agreed to lend him to Auxerre without an option to buy, as a joker, four days after the deadline. Mara was aligned from the start by Christophe Pelissier during the defeat against AS Monaco (1-2), last Saturday at Father-deschamps. The attacker will have much more playing time at AJA, even if he is now in competition with Lassine Sinayoko, shifted to the right against the Monegasques but author of a good start to the point in point.
