At the start of the 2002-03 season, Auxerre Coach Guy Roux signed a 23-year-old Zimbabwean named Benjamin Mwaruwari.

At the time his experience in Europe consisted of five games for Grasshoppers in the Swiss First Division, but Roux – renowned for his canny eye for talent – regarded the raw striker as ideal back-up for star man Djibril Cissé.

Seven games and six goals later, Benjani – as Roux had by then christened him - was the talk of the town, sitting pretty at the top of the Ligue 1 scoring chart. Once again Auxerre’s veteran tactician had pulled off a masterstroke.

Born in Zimbabwe to Malawian parents, Benjani occupied his time playing football in the streets of Harare before making his first official appearance at the age of 16. Rising rapidly through the ranks of the humble domestic competition, Benjani signed his first professional contract with Jomo Cosmos in neighbouring South Africa. Seven goals from 15 games in the 1999-2000 season was followed the next year by 13 goals from 30 games, as Benjani was voted the League’s best player.

Grasshoppers came calling, but a change of coaching personnel shortly after his arrival saw the Zimbabwe international out in the cold. Dumped from the first team, Benjani was contemplating a quick return to warmer climes before Roux offered the unconventional striker another chance. Two friendly games against Benfica and Galatasaray in July 2002 were enough to convince his future teammates that he had the talent to make it in the French top-flight.

Convincing Roux, however, was not so easy. “I looked at 10 strikers over the summer,” revealed Roux at the time. “Four came for trials and while I really wanted one of them, I hesitated too long and he signed elsewhere. Benjani took his place.”

Benjani’s blistering start to his career in France tapered almost as dramatically as it had begun. Cissé’s return from injury and a dreaded goal drought relegated Benjani first to the right wing and then to the bench. He would score only one more goal in his debut season with the AJA. A series of serious injuries confined.

Benjani to just three appearances in 2003/04, and doubts arose as to whether he could ever recapture the form that catapulted him into the limelight after just two months in France.

With the departure of Cissé to Liverpool at the start of the 2004/05 season, Roux brought in Belgian Luigi Pieroni but it is Benjani who has emerged as the perfect explosive foil to Bonaventure Kalou’s silky skills. Benjani is one of Auxerre’s most consistent route to goal and a crowd favourite at the Stade de l’Abbé Deschamps. His powerful running, ferocious shot and uncanny knack of getting into unlikely goalscoring positions have confirmed his status as one of the most dangerous strikers in Ligue 1.