Boubacar Kamara – Olympique de Marseille

The prodigal son of the Phocian city

Boubacar Kamara was born on 23 November 1999 in Marseille (France). Kamara is a French footballer who plays as a central defender and now as a defensive midfielder at Olympique de Marseille. He joined the Marseille club in 2005 at the age of 5.
He is considered to be one of the best players trained by the club, he quickly obtains the captain’s armband in the centre’s youth teams.With the U19s, he went to the final of the Gambardella Cup in 2017. On 13 December 2016, he made his debut with the professional team in a League Cup match against FC Sochaux-Montbéliard. In May 2017, he signed his first professional contract with OM.

His career at OM

As we’ve seen, he played his first match in 2016. However, he’ll have to wait until the 2017-2018 season to gain importance in the group. He only played 14 games during the season, he was not yet a regular player. He made a name for himself during OM’s European epic in the 2017 Europa League. Kamara therefore became the youngest player in OM’s history to play in the European Cup at the age of 17. He has been titularized 6 times in this competition. It was against Leipzig in the quarter-finals that he proved to be a very promising player. In the 5-2 victory in Marseille, he started in a 5-defender system and delivered a match of great class. He became an undisputed starter from the 2018-2019 season, playing 36 matches. Today he is an executive player in the dressing room despite his young age. Since 2016, he has played more than 100 matches for OM.

Profile

Boubacar Kamara started his career as a central defender with youth teams and with the professional staff at the beginning of his career. He trained in this position but quickly Rudi Garcia, the OM coach from 2016 to 2019, decided to make him play as a defensive midfielder. Kamara performed well in both positions, but he is now a dominant midfielder. His adaptation to this position, his very good level, his experience and his potential make him a very promising player who could attract big clubs this summer.

Strengths

The young Marseille native possesses many defensive qualities thanks to his training as a central defender. He is very effective defensively, he is a very clean player, he is very good on the centre of the pitch. Kamara tackles very well, his greatest quality, he wins 55% of ground duels.
He is a very intelligent player, who thanks to his vision of the game performs very well defensively. Kamara wins 63% of his aerial duels and 57% of his duels, which makes him a very good defender in the midfield. He is physically strong, which allows him to win his duels during the game. The French man is a player who runs a lot, and he makes many efforts for his team. He is a footballer who has the “grinta” ( it’s a combative player).
His technical level allows him to easily get out of the opponent’s marking by his throws on the ground. His dribbles are also a weapon for him to get out of the opponent’s pressing, he succeeds 54% of his dribbles. The young French player is also a very clean player technically, he succeeds on average 84% of his passes, 75% of which are in the opposing camp. His vision of the game and his technique help him to throw back cleanly, with passes that cut the opponent’s lines or with cross passes. He is a major player for his team because he plays forward, he is the link between the defence and the rest of the team. Boubacar Kamara is a complete and very promising player.

Weaknesses

Kamara, as we have seen, has many qualities. The French player has many skills but there are areas where he still needs to improve. He is a former defender, so he defends very well. Kamara is a young player, he is only 21 years old, he has a lot of experience in Ligue 1, but not much in European competitions. He made his Champions League debut this season. Boubacar Kamara must progress in his offensive contribution, he is not decisive in front of goal. In 105 matches with OM, he scored 3 times and delivered 4 assists. He has everything he needs to become a top-class player, but he has to progress offensively. Out of 17 shots this season, only 7 are on target. He is a complete player, but he lacks the offensive skills to become a very high level player.

Conclusion

Through this analysis of the player, we can see that despite his young age, Kamara is a very promising footballer. He’s very strong defensively, that’s his strong point. He’s technically at ease, he’s a good dribbler, he’s very clean in transitions thanks to his pass quality. He is a very important and valuable player because he always pushes his team forward. Boubacar Kamara is very generous, he does a lot of pressing and helps his team-mates. He has to progress offensively but he is still very young, he can progress in this field. In Marseille, the fans love this young player, he declared his love to the club by declaring that he was ready to stay all his career at the club. However, it is of interest to big clubs such as Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal. According to rumours of transfers, Kamara would also appeal to Italian teams such as Juventus or AC Milan. According to transfermarkt, the player would have a market value of 32 million, a price that could increase this summer. It therefore seems unlikely that Kamara will stay very long in Marseille despite his love for OM. Since 2015, he played in every youth teams for France. Kamara has no selection with the France team, but it may be a suprise in Didier Deschamps’ list for the UEFA EURO 2021.