Laurent Koscielny has tipped Girondins de Bordeaux teammate Josh Maja to get even better after seeing the Nigeria international net his first career hat-trick.
Maja became the fourth Super Eagle to score three in a Ligue 1 Conforama game after Peter Odemwingie, Victor Agali and John Utaka as he played a starring role in Bordeaux's 6-0 crushing of Nîmes Olympique on Tuesday.
The English-born forward joined Nicolas De Préville, who also scored in the game from a Maja assist, as Bordeaux's leading scorer on five goals, and Koscielny is convinced it is only the start of great things to come for the 20-year-old.
"It's great for him and his confidence. You can feel that he's starting to settle in and it's bearing fruit. He works hard in front of goal, and he was rewarded," said the ex-Arsenal man of Maja, who joined Bordeaux from Sunderland on a four-and-a-half year deal last January.
"He still needs to improve in his reading of the game, but he has the right attitude to learn and try to do things well."
Maja had scored just once and made only one top-flight start before Jimmy Briand picked up an injury in the 2-1 win over AS Monaco in Week 14.
Since, Maja has started both games, brilliantly flicking in the goal that earned his club a point at Reims last weekend before running riot against Nîmes.
"Josh is one of our best finishers," said coach Paulo Sousa of the ex-Fulham youth academy player, who received 9-out-of-10 for his performance from French sports daily L'Equipe. "He works hard on his first touch all the time, he doesn't need a lot of space to finish."
