Born on this day is former Sunderland striker Josh Maja. The once-capped Nigeria international infamously left the club in January 2019, replaced by Will Grigg...
Maja made his debut in Sunderland’s league debut during the dreadful relegation season from the Championship, under Welshman Chris Coleman. His first appearance came in a win over Fulham, who he played for as a youngster. He replaced James Vaughan from the bench, and went on to score the only goal of the game, giving Sunderland their first home win in 364 days!
He featured semi-regularly through the remainder of the season, mostly limited to substitute appearances, but failed to register another goal as the lads went down with a whimper.
After playing throughout pre-season, with new striker Charlie Wyke injured, Maja was handed a start for Sunderland’s first game back in League One against Charlton. He started the season in great form, controlling the ball, turning and finishing expertly in the second half to pull the game back to 1-1, with a late Gooch header stealing all three points.
Maja’s goalscoring stat to the season continued at Luton away, finding the bottom corner on the stroke of half time. In fact, the 19-year-old scored in every game in August, leading to Maja earning a nomination for League One Player of the Month.
However, with every goal came more rumblings behind the scenes about Maja’s contract situation- it was set to expire at the end of the season. The fiasco was played out to a worldwide audience on Netflix, and Stewart Donald in particular was left with egg on his face. The owner refused to give in to Maja’s contract demands, and in January it all came to a head. The striker’s final goal under Jack Ross was in a 1-1 draw with Scunthorpe.
Maja was sold to Bordeaux halfway through the season, and replaced by Will Grigg in an eye-watering deal at League One level. While Grigg didn’t exactly hit the ground running, neither did Maja. He made his debut in a 2-1 win over Toulouse, but had to wait until April to score his first goal in France. However, in the same game Maja suffered a major knee injury which ended his season early, meaning he’d made just seven appearances since signing.
Maja played 17 times the following season for Bordeaux, before signing on loan for the club he scored his first professional goal against- Fulham. The Cottagers were in a Premier League relegation battle, and Maja looked like a great signing when he scored a brace against Everton. However, Fulham were relegated and Maja’s only other goal came in a 1-1 draw against Arsenal.
He was kept out of the squad for the first half of the 21/22 season, as he returned to southwestern France, due to a back injury. When he did finally return, he was almost immediately sent out on loan to England again. This time around it was Championship Stoke City, where'd he'd have a pretty below average amount of goal contributions with just two goals and three assists in 17 games. The Potters materialized an uninspiring 14th placed finish and Maja once again went back to France, to a now second tier Bordeaux side.
Falling down a division proved to be a good thing for Maja, the Nigerian finished as Les Girondins top scorer (17 in 41 appearances) and also chipped in with a decent six assists. Unfortunately, Bordeaux narrowly missed out on an immediate return to Ligue 1 by a margin of just three points.
This good campaign once again attracted an English club to try and sign him. Josh joined West Brom this July on a free transfer as the Baggies looked to strengthen to push into the top six after missing out last season. He's gotten off to a slow start though, with just one goal in his nine games and his return to the Stadium of Light ended up being a nightmare. Dan Ballard flew into him in a crunching tackle that saw him forced off injured. It was quite a serious one as well, torn ankle ligaments mean he won't return to action until the middle of January at the earliest. Luck hasn't been on his side this season whatsoever then, as this is his second injury already.
