Few strikers have made more of an instant impact at Cardiff City than Sory Kaba.
There is no doubt that more talented footballers have walked through the door at Cardiff City Stadium over the years, but the Guinea international has an x-factor which makes him an utter horror to defend against - as Championship defenders are finding out.
On Wednesday night, his spectacular overhead kick against Watford represented his seventh goal in 13 games, a goal ratio scarcely seen in the Welsh capital.
READ MORE: Sabri Lamouchi hails Cardiff City's 'goal of the season' as he makes plea to Bluebirds fans
His intent, his directness, his physicality and his mentality all come together to provide an alchemy that is seemingly greater than the sum of its parts. If Cardiff do stay up, it is no understatement to say that they owe a huge debt of gratitude to this monster of a striker.
It's not just his performances on the pitch, either. He is a breath of fresh air around the place and fans absolutely adore him.
Not for the first time in recent weeks, chants of "Sory Kaba, we want you to stay" were belted out from the away end after the match, after the striker had run towards them and given them three big fist pumps. It's clear to see he has a real connection with those Bluebirds fans.
But he is only on loan from FC Midtjylland, meaning his current contract runs only for four more games. He will return to the Danish club with one year left on his contract, too, so hopes of signing him next season might be tricky.
Whether Midtjylland would countenance another year's loan away is not yet known, however it's highly unlikely. Any striker who goes out on loan and racks up this sort of goal return is either going to have a decent price tag this summer or the Midtjylland manager would likely fancy him to play a part in their own campaign next season.
Cardiff are currently under a partial EFL transfer embargo, too, prohibiting them from spending money in the summer transfer window. They are hopeful of getting that overturned, but at time of writing they cannot sign anyone for a transfer fee, so that would rule them out of signing him permanently in the off-season.
Kaba, however, was asked about his connection to Cardiff and his future after the game and replied: "I really love it. I have received many, many messages since I've signed here. I am a football player and since I started I play for the fans.
"And Cardiff, I really like their energy. I'm really happy here and that's the only thing I can tell you. I'm happy here. We need to be safe and I'm sure if we play with this sprit, we will be, for sure."
"Now, I'm just focused on doing my thing and being the club's saviour. The only thing I can tell you now is that I'm really happy in Cardiff."
That instant connection between player and club is quite rare and the fans appreciate Kaba's work on the pitch and his personality off it. The perfect combination, as far as they are concerned.
But Kaba believes there is a lot more that goes into making a player feel at home when arriving in a new country at a new club.
"Since I've come, the coach, staff, people around the club, everyone is giving me good energy," he added. "My dream was always to come and play in England and I'm very happy Cardiff opened the door for me.
"I'm really grateful and that's why I need to give it back to them on the pitch. And I'm a striker, so I need to score goals!"
And scoring goals he is. Seven in 13 is some return, the best of any Cardiff striker after 13 games for a long time. And his most recent was, well, incredible.
At Vicarage Road, with the score perched perilously at 2-1, Perry Ng sent that diagonal ball into the box on which Kaba seems to thrive. Under pressure from Wesley Hoedt, Kaba opted against heading on goal and instead chested it up into the air before acrobatically employing the bicycle kick technique.
For those who have followed Kaba closely since his arrival, it's not his first attempt at scoring an overhead kick. In his first four or five games he must have tried it close to a dozen times to no avail. But, what a time to pull it off.
In Kaba's mind, it's one of the best goals he has ever scored.
"I think it is! I think it is one of my best goals," said Kaba, who has 74 goals across club and country football.
"You can see when I first signed here, the first two games I tried it. Then I tried it in training. It just goes to show, people need to believe what they do every day and one day it will pay off.
"It worked in training. But I didn't have it yet in the games! In my career, it's the first one I scored like this. Some people were laughing, but now they can see the goal.
"I am happy, but most importantly, the way we played against Watford, a big team. When they scored, we didn't put our heads down, we played for the fans and the club.
"Today's victory is many points. We need to keep going. We have a hard game against Stoke and we need to keep this energy."
His goal helped ease the pressure on Cardiff, who put in a staunch defensive display in the second half to secure the 3-1 win over the Hornets.
It means City now have a two-point cushion above the drop zone but have a game in hand over the five teams below them. Asked if he is confident the club can avoid relegation, Kaba said: "100 percent. If we play like this we will be safe. The good thing is we have it all in our hands.
"We have Stoke, Rotherham, the game we were winning. Now we have good games coming and if we want to win we need to get results."
READ NEXT
