Southampton’s club-record signing Sofiane Boufal opened his scoring account for the club with a stunning goal against Sunderland in the EFL Cup on his full debut in midweek.

The Morocco international, who cost £16m when he joined from French side Lille during the summer, produced a sublime first touch to trap the ball, before switching it on to his right foot and curling home via the crossbar in what proved to be the winner as the Saints advanced to a quarter-final tie away at Arsenal.

It would have been enough to get supporters of the south coast extremely excited about what might lie ahead, especially as the 23-year-old only made his bow for the club away at Inter Milan last week following a five-month injury lay-off.

That got us thinking. Which other Southampton stars’ first goals for the club were sublime and will be remembered by fans for years to come?

Here are five contenders…

KEVIN PHILLIPS

Despite being released by the club in 1991 because he was too small, Phillips re-joined Saints in a £3.25m deal from Sunderland in August 2003, and came off the bench to score a stunning goal in a 2-2 draw away at Leicester City in their first-ever Premier League game at the then Walkers Stadium.

Linking up with James Beattie, the striker found some space 30 yards out before unleashing a rocket of a shot that flew into the corner of Ian Walker’s goal.

TADANARI LEE

Saints have had many enigmatic players over the years, and Lee was certainly one of those.

The Japanese striker failed to make too much of an impact during his two-year spell at St Mary’s, but he certainly lit up the stadium on a cold February afternoon in 2012.

Rickie Lambert passed it to the attacker just inside the corner of the penalty area, and he shifted the ball onto his left foot before arrowing a strike into the far corner as Saints smashed four goals past Derby County.

CUCO MARTINA

The Curacao international has only scored once for Saints, and it is arguably their best-ever goal during their time in the Premier League - sorry Le Tiss!

Martina was seen as a utility player when he joined from Twente in the summer of 2015, and many supporters grimaced as they saw him line up a half-volley with the outside of his boot from 25 yards against Arsenal on Boxing Day.

However, the right-back caught it sweetly and it curled back inside of Petr Cech’s post to send the fans inside St Mary’s into raptures.

In the words of Barry Davies - “Look at his face! Just look at his face!”

GARETH BALE

Despite only just turning 17, Bale started Southampton’s first Championship match of the season away at Derby County in 2006, and marked it with his first senior goal. And what a special one it was.

With the more experienced Rudi Skacel standing alongside the Welshman as the duo eyed up a free-kick 25 yards from goal, the youngster stepped up and hit an unstoppable free-kick past the despairing dive of Lee Camp.

The rest, as they say, is history.

FRANCIS BENALI

How can we forget the Saints legend that is Francis Benali?

Most players score their first goal for their club relatively early into their career. But not Benali.

The cult hero scored the one – and only – goal of his career on his 287th appearance for the club, when he powered home a header from a Matt Le Tissier free-kick.

The left-back is still fondly remembered by the supporters, and you can often see stickers with his face on planted around various Premier League, and now European, away grounds.