Southampton’s manager, Ralph Hasenhuttl, was effusive when Moussa Djenepo was plucked from Belgian football to sign for Saints. He enthused “he is an exciting player, with tremendous pace and good finishing abilities, who we have watched closely for some time. He combines his quality with a good mentality but also with a great amount of potential that I believe we can help him fulfill”. At first the manager’s enthusiasm seemed well-placed as Moussa scored in only his second game at Brighton and then a stunner in his fourth at Sheffield United which won the Premier League goal-of-the-month for September. The fans were excited, sensing Saints had unearthed. a precocious talent but then it all went wrong. Over the rest of the season and the following three campaigns he was to score only three more goals for the club as he struggled to hold down a regular place.

Unpredictable, inconsistent, ungainly were all accusations applied to his performances although he never lacked application and, for a time, there was a belief among the coaching staff he could become a more-than-useful wing-back and he was given a three-year extension in September 2022 on the back of that premise. In truth he lacked coordination and although there were times he could look unplayable there were more times when he bamboozled his colleagues with his idiosyncrasy. His last goal was a memorable one scored at home in the Carabao Cup in 2022 as Saints eliminated eventual European Champions, Manchester City (see below). It was a final taste of what might have been but sadly never was. He returned to Standard Liege in the summer of 2023, by which time he had won 32 international cps for Mali.