Southampton Sign Divin Mubama on Loan from Manchester City

Southampton have moved quickly to reshape their attack, bringing in Manchester City striker Divin Mubama on a season-long loan on the same day they sanctioned a £30m sale of midfielder Shea Charles to Fulham.

One major talent out. One hungry forward in.

Mubama, 21, arrives with something to prove and a point to finish. Last season at Stoke City, the West Ham academy graduate looked ready to catch fire before his momentum was cut short. Five goals in 28 appearances only tell part of the story; a ligament injury in a bruising 0-0 draw with Queens Park Rangers in January halted what had been a promising Championship campaign.

Stoke boss Mark Robins called the challenge that injured him “terrible”. Mubama barely featured again for the Potters after that night.

Yet his trajectory since suggests that setback did not define him. A product of West Ham’s youth system, he broke into the first team early, making 18 appearances for the Hammers, eight of them off the bench in the Premier League. He was close enough to taste silverware too, named among the substitutes when West Ham lifted the Europa Conference League in June 2023.

The move to Manchester City in the summer of 2024 signalled how highly he is rated. At a club where chances are scarce and standards unforgiving, Mubama still found a way to catch the eye on their pre-season tour of Asia. He scored against Inter Milan and the K-League All Stars, then added an assist in City’s 3-1 win over Atletico Madrid in Seoul on Sunday.

Those performances sharpened his confidence. The loan to Southampton should sharpen his edge.

“With the way this team plays, when you've got players around you that have that much quality, you will be served,” Mubama told the club’s website. “It's up to you whether you put the ball in the back of the net, and that's what I'm here to do.

“I've just come back from a pre-season where I've scored goals. I've been playing, I feel really fresh, I feel sharp, so I'm just really excited to get going.”

For Southampton, the timing is no coincidence. Losing Charles to Fulham for a substantial fee gives them room to manoeuvre but also leaves a hole in midfield. The response has been to double down on attacking threat, betting that goals at the top end of the pitch can offset the loss of a versatile international.

Sporting director Johannes Spors made it clear this was not an opportunity they intended to let slip.

“As soon as we knew about Divin's availability we acted quickly to bring him here, not just because of his incredible goal scoring ability, but because of his work ethic and hunger to help the team, which will be vitally important this season,” he said.

That word – hunger – will resonate at St Mary’s. Mubama has tasted the fringes of elite football at West Ham and Manchester City without yet owning a stage of his own. Southampton, gearing up for another gruelling campaign, are offering him exactly that: a platform, responsibility, and the chance to turn raw promise into decisive goals.

Now it’s on Mubama to turn sharp pre-season form into something far more valuable – a season that changes the course of his career and Southampton’s.