Josh Maja has begun the season in sensational form, bagging seven goals in eight games. He has come a long way since bursting onto the scene as a young striker in a crumbling Sunderland side. It’s been a difficult journey for the 25-year-old striker involving multiple moves across the English channel.
However, he has always found his way back to England. This is how Josh Maja saw himself as the Championship’s top goalscorer at West Bromwich Albion.
Josh Maja: An Opportunity Arrives
During the 2017/18 season, Sunderland were in free fall. Relegation from the Premier League now looks like it will be followed by relegation to League One. This would be a far cry from Sunderland’s usual stomping grounds of mid-table mediocrity in the prem. Due to the turmoil, Sunderland sacked Simon Grayson and replaced him with Chris Coleman. Coleman would hand Maja his league debut at the club. Coming on for James Vaughan, Maja would score the only goal in Sunderland’s first win of 2017 against Fulham.
However, this did not prevent Sunderland’s eventual relegation to League One. Maja would play 17 more games for the club that season, failing to score in any of them. Chris Coleman left the club, and Sunderland, once again, found themselves facing a rebuild in a lower division. However, they had a promising spine to build from this time, with Maja leading the line.
League One, Goal Machine
The 2018/19 season would be Sunderland’s 140th season in existence. I’m sure their fans wouldn’t have expected the club to play in third-tier English football. However, the atmosphere around the club seemed promising after dismal back-to-back relegations.
It was a new era for the club, under new ownership in Stewart Donald and Juan Sartori, with Jack Ross now at the helm. Sunderland began their campaign against Charlton Athletic, but things quickly turned sour. Ten minutes into the game, Lyle Taylor would convert a penalty to put Charlton ahead. Sunderland would struggle to get back into the game, heading into the break behind. Up steps Josh Maja, scoring the equalizer before Lynden Gooch would score a last-gasp winner.
Magic Maja was the moniker awarded to him by the Sunderland faithful, and he would continue to impress in his first entire season as their leading striker. He would continue his fantastic form into January, netting 15 goals in the league alongside two assists. However, with his contract up at the end of the season and having rejected a contract extension, it became clear to Sunderland fans that their star boy wouldn’t be sticking around…
Josh Maja: Across the English Channel
Sunderland would be forced into selling Maja during the January window. Bordeaux would end up snapping the young star for a measly £1.5 million. However, Josh Maja wouldn’t have an easy time in the early stages of this move. Maja would struggle to get significant game time at the back end of the 2018/19 season, but he finally opened his account with a goal against Nimes in a 2-1 loss.
Unfortunately, this is where Maja would pick up his first major injury. Torn knee ligaments would see him ruled out for the remaining games. He would have to wait and recover to be ready for the following season in France’s top flight, Ligue Une.
He would return to the side in the 2019/20 season ready to prove himself as the prolific goal scorer that he was in League One. However, this season would be another where he would struggle for game time. As a result of his 21 cameos for the club, he would score six goals and gain two assists in Ligue Une, including a very impressive hattrick in a 6-0 win over Nimes.
The Homecoming
Heading into the 2020/21 season, Maja would score twice in 17 games, leading him to the January window. Maja would find himself back in England by the end of the transfer window, this time with Fulham in a relegation battle. Starting his youth career at Fulham, Maja returns years later to try and help Scott Parker steer newly promoted Fulham away from a swift return to the Championship.
Fulham would find themselves relegated anyway, with Maja netting three goals in 15 games. They decided against resigning Maja for the following season in the Championship so that Maja would return to France for the 2021/22 season. Unfortunately, disaster would strike, and Maja would pick up a severe back injury, keeping them out of contention until December.
Magic Maja played only 8 minutes in Ligue Une during December and January before being shipped back to England again, this time to play in the Championship with Stoke City. He would score once and pick up three assists in a mediocre season for himself and Stoke City. Again, they decided not to sign the striker permanently, and Maja found himself, once again, returning to Bordeaux.
Josh Maja: A Season of Redemption
Bordeaux was relegated to Ligue 2, the second tier of French football, which allowed Maja to regain his ‘Magic’ goal-scoring form that saw him become a household name at Sunderland all those years ago. He would go on to do just that.
Magic Maja had returned in prime goal-scoring form. He netted 16 goals in the league alongside six assists in a season that saw Bordeaux finish third and miss out on promotion back to the top division by 3 points. Maja played all 38 games and even scored an impressive hat trick against Paris FC.
After finishing fourth amongst the top goal scorers, Bordeaux was eager to tie him to a new contract. However, history has a way of repeating itself. After such an impressive season, Maja’s head was turned, and he decided to run down his contract and consider his options…
Return to the Championship
On 1 August 2023, Magic Maja returned to the Championship, playing for Carlos Corberan’s West Bromwich Albion. It would be a challenging move for the striker, who has two proven goal-scorers in Daryl Dike and Brandon Thomas-Asante.
He made his debut almost immediately in the 2023/24 season as a sub against Swansea but would miss two months due to fitness and injury issues. However, when called upon, Magic Maja proved he was still the man for the job. Against league leaders Leicester on the 2nd of December, West Brom found themselves a goal down, up steps Maja, who scored the equalizer in a period of dominance for the baggies.
Unfortunately, this proved to be a false dawn for the striker, who would return to Sunderland a week later in what would prove to be a tragic match-up. Leading the line for the Albion, Maja would be on the receiving end of dog abuse from the Sunderland faithful, who had neither forgiven nor forgotten his betrayal. This translated to the players, as Dan Ballard would go on to deliver an atrocious foul on Maja, which saw him stretchered off alongside cheers and jeers from the Sunderland fans.
A Third ‘Maja’ Injury
Picking up his third major injury this early in his career seemed cruel for the still-young striker. He would be sidelined for four to five months, receive surgery and be forced to watch the Albion lose their playoff semi-final versus Southampton. Baggies fans would grow frustrated with Dike and Maja seemingly being injury-prone, leaving them striker-less, apart from Brandon Thomas-Asante, for most of the season.
Maja would continue down the long road to recovery into the current season, the 2024/25 season. This would be a pre-season of upheaval at the club. Shilen Patel had acquired the Albion halfway through the previous season and would head into his first entire season as the owner of West Bromwich Albion.
Magic Maja would watch as many players left the club upon the expiry of their contracts. This wouldn’t be all the departures from the club as a fire sale seemed in full effect—the most significant of which being Brandon Thomas-Asante leaving for Coventry for a large sum of money. With Dike still injured, Maja would be the main man up front for the Baggies.
Josh Maja: Up Steps the Major!
After a lacklustre pre-season, West Brom entered the season with low expectations from fans, with some hoping to avoid a relegation battle. They would travel to QPR for the season’s first game, with Josh Maja leading the line. The fans’ fears and reservations seemed justified, as QPR would strike first with a simple routine finish. Would it be another season of heartache?
Not if Maja has anything to say about it. Cometh the hour, cometh the man. This man was Magic Maja, who was about to earn himself a new moniker, a more mature one. Maja would score a very impressive hattrick to help the Albion come from behind to blitz QPR 3-1 in the season’s first game. A mistake by the commentator would see Maja nicknamed ‘The Major’, a name that has stuck since.
Following this, ‘The Major’ would score seven goals in 8 games as of writing this article. This is an impressive start to the season, and if he can stay fit, he could find himself competing for the Golden Boot come the end of the season. To put it into perspective, Brandon Thomas-Asante scored 11 goals in 39 league games the season prior. ‘The Major’ has almost matched this tally in 31 fewer games.
The 25-year-old is enjoying his football and seems to be brimming with confidence, almost scoring on a few occasions in a poor team performance against Middlesborough. If the team can continue to perform around him, there is no reason why ‘The Major’ can’t go on to achieve great things with the club.