Sadio Mane is set to repay his transfer fee in his first season at St Mary’s.

The £10m man, who joined from Red Bull Salzburg last summer, is proving to be a huge points winner for Ronald Koeman’s side.

The 22-year-old Senegalese international’s decisive strike to defeat Crystal Palace was the seventh point his goals alone have earned Saints this campaign.

Mane has scored the winners in 1-0 victories over Stoke, QPR and Palace, as well as bagging a 1-1 draw with Chelsea to net the seven points for his side.

Those seven points are the difference between Saints competing for the top European spots along with the league’s big boys and being tied with Stoke fighting it out for the eighth placed finish they achieved last season.

The difference last year between the money earned by the sides finishing sixth and seventh and Saints back in eighth was more than £12m.

Those clubs, Manchester United and Tottenham, enjoyed around £2m in extra prize money alone, as well as extra TV appearances as a result of them being involved in the business end of the campaign.

As well as his decisive goals, Mane also contributed to the Saints tally in the wins over Crystal Palace away and the 2-0 victory over Arsenal at St Mary’s on New Year’s Day.

His six Premier League goals for Saints this season puts him just two behind Graziano Pelle as the club’s most prolific scorer in this top flight campaign.

Mane has been used in two main roles by Koeman since joining.

Generally he has played out wide, often drifting into the centre.

Koeman also utilised Mane’s pace to play off of the shoulder of Pelle, often getting in behind the big striker.

It was in that role that he had his most prolific spell as he scored in back-to-back games against Palace, Chelsea and Arsenal.

He sustained an injury netting the opener against the Gunners that ruled him out for a few weeks. Upon his return to fitness he was away with Senegal in the Africa Cup of Nations, and has been used as a wide man since.

The statistics prove that though he is unpredictable, he is coming up with the decisive goals that convinced Saints to part with a substantial fee to secure his services.