The last time Graziano Pelle can remember playing in a such a one-side game was in the tiny square outside his house in Lecce, southern Italy.

It was there that the young Pelle would score goals and celebrate like Alan Shearer, trying to replicate his Premier League hero.

He wanted to be like Shearer: a powerful, bustling striker with a bullet header and shot like thunder. Little did he know that, at the age of 29, he would realise his dream.

VIDEO Scroll down to watch An unbelievable result - Koeman

Graziano Pelle scored twice (he wants to claim a third) as Southampton beat Sunderland 8-0 on Saturday

Pelle claims he idolised former Newcastle striker Alan Shearer, and Marco van Basten, when he was younger

Pelle strikes home his second goal during the thrashing of the hapless Black Cats at St Mary's

SUPERSTAT 7 Graziano Pelle has had a hand in seven goals in his last six games, scoring six and assisting one. 4 Dusan Tadic joined Santi Cazorla, Emmanuel Adebayor, Cesc Fabregas, Jose Antonio Reyes and Dennis Bergkamp as the only men with four PL assists in a game. Advertisement

Nor that it would be at Southampton, the club where the teenaged Shearer broke through to become one of the greatest forwards in English football.

Pelle claimed two more strikes in the thrashing of Sunderland — making it six goals in eight Premier League appearances since he signed in the summer — and ran the opposition’s back line ragged. He said: ‘When I was young and I scored, it was “a great Van Basten” or “a great Shearer”. When you are young, you want to be someone who is already in the Premier League or Serie A.

‘Now I’m happy that I am here. I see a lot of love from kids who want to be me. I have to always show them that with work you can reach what you want to reach.’

Pelle was only denied a hat-trick by the combination of a half-save from Sunderland goalkeeper Vito Mannone and the ineptitude of midfielder Liam Bridcutt.

Pelle wants to keep the match ball as his shot was heading in before Liam Bridcutt (r) bundled it over the line

Santiago Vergini got a miserable day going for Sunderland with a sliced own goal

Pelle and Ronald Koeman picked up the Players' and Manger of the month awards for September

VIDEO An unbelievable result - Koeman

His strike was powerful and Mannone could only push it to one side. The ball was creeping towards the goal-line until Bridcutt got it caught in his feet and bundled it over the line. But Pelle is determined to keep the match-ball for scoring three.

‘We are going to ask them to give me the third goal,’ he explained. ‘The club is going to fight for it. One goal counts! For a striker, it always counts.’

Considering goals were few and far between in the early part of Pelle’s career, struggling in Serie A in his teens and early 20s, it is understandable he is so keen to add as many to his name as he can. Scoring has come far easier in the past two seasons.

Moving to Holland’s Eredivisie, first to AZ Alkmaar where he played for Louis Van Gaal and then Feyenoord under Ronald Koeman, ignited Pelle.

He won the league but was not prolific at Alkmaar. In two seasons at Feyenoord he struck 50 goals in 57 league games before Koeman took Pelle with him to Southampton for £8million.

The Italian striker was not prolific at AZ Alkmaar before joining Feyernoord

Pelle scored on his Italian debut against Malta in a Euro 2016 qualifier last week

Continuing that form into this season has finally earned him a call-up to the Italy side and he netted on his debut, against Malta, during the international break.

A few days later he was named the Barclays Premier League player of the month and celebrated by starring in one of the biggest wins in league history.

‘It was the best week of my career,’ he added. ‘I had great moments in the past. I was happy in many situations. But this is something I am doing in a higher league, the best competition in the world. I believe in myself, I believe in the team. I just want to keep going, it’s just the beginning. We are in October. It will be really bad to stop now because it doesn’t have meaning. If we stop now, at the end of the season nobody will remember.’

He is scoring goals which Shearer would surely have been proud of. For instance, against Queens Park Rangers when he flicked the ball up and sent it into the top-right corner with an overhead kick.

But while Pelle is earning plaudits for finding the net, Serbia’s Dusan Tadic — another Koeman recruit bought from FC Twente — is pulling the strings.

Against Sunderland, not only did Tadic score, he set up four of the other goals. Pelle said: ‘When I was in Holland, I had a question: which player would you like to play with? I said: “Dusan. Many No 10s are a bit selfish. Not Dusan. He always wants to be dangerous”.’

Summer signing Dusan Tadic jumps into the arms of Italian forward Pelle after scoring his side's sixth goal