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This content was machine-translated from the French version.
Le Havre AC finally has its number nine. Josh Maja, the 27-year-old Nigerian striker, signed as a free agent with the oldest club on Friday evening for one season, with an additional year as an option. A return to Ligue 1 that the former Bordeaux player had been waiting for since his hasty departure from Gironde, and which HAC completed by making him their offensive priority of the summer.
Free since the end of his contract with West Bromwich Albion, where he had been playing in the Championship since January 2024, Maja had several options in France and abroad. Le Havre convinced him by betting on a clear sporting project and the promise of playing time that other suitors, notably in Turkey and Belgium, did not guarantee with the same clarity.
Free since the end of his contract with West Bromwich Albion, where he had been playing in the Championship since January 2024, Maja had several options in France and abroad.
A scorer that Ligue 1 knows well
Maja is not arriving in unknown territory. Between 2019 and 2023, he wore the Girondins de Bordeaux jersey 85 times, scoring 25 goals in all competitions. These statistics only tell part of his time in France: at Bordeaux, Maja above all embodied consistency in a club that sorely lacked it, finishing as the club's top scorer in the 2021-2022 season with 9 goals in Ligue 1.
His departure to England, following the administrative relegation of the Girondins in the summer of 2023, had left a bitter taste among supporters. Maja left without being able to say goodbye to a public that appreciated him for his sense of teamwork as much as for his efficiency in front of goal. Two seasons later, he has never hidden his desire to return to France.
Didier Digard gets his offensive piece
At Le Havre, Maja reunites with Didier Digard, a coach who made summer recruitment a priority project after a 2025-2026 season where HAC too often lacked offensive weight. The Nigerian striker brings a profile that the Norman club had been seeking for several transfer windows: capable of playing as a pivot, good in the air, mobile in the final ten meters, Maja can play both as a lone striker and alongside a second forward.
At 27, he arrives in a phase of maturity. His time in the Championship, a physically demanding league, allowed him to develop his back-to-goal play and strengthen his impact in duels. Two qualities that should fully express themselves in Digard's system, which favors direct football where the role of the center-forward is not limited to finishing.
A Le Havre transfer window taking shape
Maja's arrival is part of a Norman recruitment campaign that is moving up a gear. HAC, maintained in Ligue 1, was looking to strengthen a squad that suffered over the course of last season. President Bodmer, discreet but active in the market, validated several leads, of which the Nigerian striker was the stated priority.
The championship resumes in a week. Maja should be eligible for the first matchday. He will find, on a Ligue 1 evening, a Stade Océane that has not forgotten what a center-forward capable of getting a stand on its feet with a well-taken deflection can bring. The Norman number nine was not chosen by chance: in a squad that lacked offensive weight last season, Maja embodies the bet on immediate efficiency, without an adaptation period. HAC is betting on a player who already knows Ligue 1 defenses and will not need six months to find his bearings.