Smart transfers & Stuart Maynard shuffle - How Notts County filled Macaulay Langstaff void | OneFootball

Alassana Jatta has adapted to English football superbly and his form has been a big part of why life after Langstaff is still looking bright at Notts.

Key Takeaways

When Macaulay Langstaff left Notts County for Millwall in the summer, there were questions from all angles about how you even begin to go about replacing a man who scored 71 goals in just two seasons at the club.

As it turns out, his replacement was already in the building.

Since joining Notts on deadline day last January from Danish Superliga side Viborg, Alassana Jatta has received rave reviews for his performances for the Magpies.

14 goals and four assists from just 22 games for Notts has seen the Gambian adapt to English football in impressive fashion, and he is rapidly becoming one of League Two’s best all-round frontmen.

While he was never expected to replicate the goalscoring feats of his predecessor Langstaff, Jatta is providing immense value to Notts in his own right, both in terms of goals and his link-up play.

The 25-year-old is becoming more important to Notts by the game, as Stuart Maynard has started to stamp his own mark on this Magpies side in 2024-25.

Jatta has made the adaptation to English football look easy

When Jatta’s move to Notts went through before January’s deadline, eyebrows were unsurprisingly raised around League Two.

Notts have had mixed success with signings from abroad in recent years; Ruben Rodrigues was obviously a huge success, but Elisha Sam’s move was one that never really worked out, and Caspar Sloth’s one which never even properly began.

No one really knew what to expect when Notts paid an undisclosed fee for Jatta’s services. He hadn’t exactly been free-scoring during his time in Denmark, ending his time at Viborg with 21 goals from 103 games.

But he has now become so much more valuable to Notts than their outlay to secure his signature.

The Gambian has flourished since his first start in Notts colours away at Accrington in March. No player in the entire EFL has a better goals per game rate in league play than Jatta (from the start of the 23-24 season onwards).

He’s already among the top scorers in League Two this season, with six to his name so far, and he certainly looks capable of going on to become a 20-goal man at this level.

Both Jatta and David McGoldrick have had fantastic starts to this campaign, leaving the summer’s concerns about where the goals would come from after Langstaff’s departure very much in the past.

Notts are currently the division's fourth-highest scorers, so there is little concern about their ability to find the back of the net.

However, Jatta’s importance to Notts goes far beyond just his goals, the Gambian is the type of striker Notts have lacked since losing Kyle Wootton to Stockport County in 2022. Mobile, physical and energetic, he brings another element to Notts’ play that they simply didn’t have before.

Having a target man who they can go direct into and rely on to both hold the ball up effectively and run in-behind, has helped make the Magpies a much more versatile and unpredictable outfit this term.

They’re now much more equipped to alter their style of play when faced with an opposition who want to press very aggressively and get in their faces.

Throw in a brilliant attitude and Jatta is quickly becoming the full package for the Magpies.

Maynard gave a glowing review of his striker, after the Gambian scored a brace in last weekend’s FA Cup win over Alfreton, saying: “He’s so infectious about the place, every day he comes in and he’s so smiley with everyone, with the office staff and on the training ground he’s got time for everyone.

“He deserves what he’s doing.”

He also provided a stark warning for the rest of League Two – that there’s still more to come from the 25-year-old: “He’s an incredible player and he’s only getting better. You’re seeing it game by game, he is getting better and better in his all-round play.”

Jatta has brought a slight stylistic change to Notts in 2024-25

With this year’s Notts side being built around Jatta rather than Langstaff, there have naturally been some slight stylistic tweaks from Maynard and his coaching team.

As well as the obvious point of Jatta’s height enabling Notts to go more direct when they need to, there’s also been a slight change of emphasis in the final third.

Throughout the two years Langstaff was at the club, Notts scored a lot of goals from a first-time ball drilled low across the six-yard box. This proved to be a particularly effective tactic under both Luke Williams and Maynard as, alongside wingers with energy and good delivery, they had a striker in Langstaff who was an exceptional instinctive finisher and spent the majority of his time between the posts.

While Jatta still scores those types of goals, his finishing tends to be better when he has time to pick his spot. He is arguably a better 1-on-1 finisher than Langstaff is.

Because of this and Notts’ increased aerial threat through Jatta, Maynard’s men have often opted to either cross the ball from deeper, or stand balls up into the middle this term, knowing that they now carry a much bigger threat in the air.

This minor tactical tweak can be highlighted by the fact that Notts are having slightly more headed efforts at goal than last season (1.9 per 90 as opposed to 1.7), and are also on course to put in more crosses than in 2023-24.

While Jatta isn’t necessarily better than Langstaff was, or vice versa, Notts’ recruitment team deserve the utmost praise for finding a way to replace someone of Langstaff’s quality, and for relatively little outlay.

Neither are Notts objectively any better or worse off for having Jatta instead of Langstaff, they’re just a slightly different side. Jatta is still far from the finished article, there are times when his touch lets him down and he still looks a little rough around the edges, like any player at League Two level.

But at 25, he still has plenty of time to improve, and the raw attributes are certainly there for him to go on and play at a higher level.