A true striker through and through. Mamadou Niang, or Mamad, was signed to OM from Strasbourg in 2005, for a fee of about 7 Million Euros. While struggling to score early in the season, he would eventually finish the 2005-06 season with 10 goals, and as top scorer for OM. In the 2006 season, Niang established himself as a true cadre of the OM squad. Finishing with 18 total goals and several assists, he began to come into his own as a talented striker. As they say, the rest is history. The next year, he scored a couple goals in Champions League and finished with 23 total goals, and would continue this trend for several years. He would finish his tenure at l’OM with 155 appearances and 100 goals, before being transferred to Fenerbahce. A staggering record for a player at the team for 5 seasons.

Here is one of Niang’s best goals for l’OM. An example of his genius.

Mamad was a complete striker. He was strong technically, quick, and a good header of the ball. He was always able to create space and terrorize defenders with curling runs. The best word to describe his play was solid. He was good at all aspects of offense, rarely got hurt, and worked extremely hard. He was a professional on and off the field, never getting in trouble with tabloids in the press. In interviews, he was humble and frank, with his characteristic raspy voice.

Watch to the end of this video to see one of the biggest goals by Niang at l’OM. At the time, Lyon was the Ligue 1 powerhouse. Niang scores an insane goal at the end to send le Vélodrome into hysterics.

One of the top strikers in Marseille history (in my opinion), I can recall dozens of important goals he scored for OM. He will forever be one of my favorite OM players of all time.

Here is a compilation of his goals for OM. It is a bit long, but if you skip around, you get a sense of what an incredible player he was. Enjoy!