Aston Villa have been scouting Marseille’s Boubacar Kamara for ‘the past few weeks’, according to But! Football Club (via Sport Witness).
The lowdown
The 22-year-old defensive midfielder is also capable of operating as a centre-back. His contract expires on 30 June, which means he is currently free to negotiate pre-contract terms with clubs outside of France.
Villa signed Lucas Digne and Philippe Coutinho in January but were unable to land a defensive midfielder as they’d hoped, having refused to meet the asking price for either Yves Bissouma or Rodrigo Bentancur.
The Athletic’s Gregg Evans has said that the club are now expected to address that perceived weakness in the summer.
The latest
The report from But! Football Club (via Sport Witness) stated that recruitment staff from Aston Villa have been watching Kamara during the month of February.
The expectation is very much that the player will ‘pack his bags’ and leave Jorge Sampaoli’s side come the end of the season.
The verdict
Could Kamara be the answer for Villa in the middle of the park?
The Daily Mirror’s David Anderson has talked up his potential to GiveMeSport, hailing him as ‘one of the next big things’.
Indeed, figures from FBRef illustrate that the 22-year-old is a well-rounded number 6 in the same mould as Liverpool’s Fabinho. He ranks in the 70th percentile or better (relative to positional peers) for pass completion, progressive passes and interceptions.
One potential problem for Villa, though, is that Manchester United are also said to be tracking the £22.5m-rated Frenchman, and they will hope to use the significant carrot of potential Champions League football to persuade him to choose Old Trafford over Villa Park.
In other news, Ashley Preece has an update on Bertrand Traore
