Stephy Mavididi scored on his first start for Montpellier on Sunday, after netting his first goal in a substitute appearance recently.

Montpellier's Stephy Mavididi (C) celebrates after scoring a goal during the French L1 football match between AS Monaco vs Montpellier Herault SC at the "Louis II Stadium" in Monaco on October 18, 2020. (Photo by VALERY HACHE/AFP via Getty Images)
Montpellier’s Stephy Mavididi (C) celebrates after scoring a goal on October 18, 2020. (Photo by VALERY HACHE/AFP via Getty Images)

Former Arsenal academy striker Stephy Mavididi had to wait a while for his first start for Montpellier, after joining them in a permanent move from Juventus over the summer.

The 22-year-old made seven substitute appearances before Saturday, scoring in the second-to-last one against AS Monaco. It was a nice goal too, picking up the ball around the halfway line before racing away from the defenders and finishing clinically.

But Mavididi had to wait another couple of weeks to finally get his first start, away to Saint-Etienne. He took advantage to score another goal, this time a curling effort from outside the box.

Mavididi moved to Montpellier for around €6.3m, with some of that money going to Arsenal through ‘solidarity contributions’. He made his debut for Juventus before leaving, but never really came close to getting a chance in their first team.

For a player who was very effective at youth levels for Arsenal, he still hasn’t quite recaptured that form in the senior game. 10 goal contributions in 28 games in France (with Dijon) last season was a decent return, but he needs to push on now.

The early signs are that he’s doing just that, so good luck to Mavididi for the rest of the campaign.