Unai Emery will be without Boubacar Kamara for the remainder of the season, and now attentions turn to who may play alongside him
In the past 18 months, Boubacar Kamara has established himself as one of the Premier League’s top free agents. The holding midfielder’s contract with Marseille expired in the summer of 2022, therefore Villa and Steven Gerrard moved rapidly to recruit him. A number of other European teams were also interested in signing him.
The 22-year-old looked like a no-brainer for Villa, especially considering that Kamara had a lot of other options. He had recently been called up to the France squad and had made 170 appearances for Marseille, including minutes in the Champions League and Europa League.
In the past 18 months, Boubacar Kamara has established himself as one of the Premier League’s top free agents. The holding midfielder’s contract with Marseille expired in the summer of 2022, therefore Villa and Steven Gerrard moved rapidly to recruit him. A number of other European teams were also interested in signing him.
The 22-year-old looked like a no-brainer for Villa, especially considering that Kamara had a lot of other options. He had recently been called up to the France squad and had made 170 appearances for Marseille, including minutes in the Champions League and Europa League.
Although Emery still has a plethora of choices in midfield, none of them can fully replace Kamara’s contribution to this Villa squad. Leander Dendoncker, who was loaned to Napoli in January, did come the closest, but he is obviously no longer with the Lions. Emery has four clear-cut choices for his midfield, Jacob Ramsey, Nicolo Zaniolo, Youri Tielemans, and Tim Iroegbunam, to go with Luiz and captain John McGinn.
Despite his personal injury struggles, Ramsey has recently made strides towards playing more frequently as he attempts to reclaim the great form he once displayed for the Villa first team. Both Zaniolo and Tielemans, especially the former who can play practically anywhere in the last third, are more attack-oriented players. Tielemans has recently improved after having a poor start to life at Villa, and at this point, he would seem like a good substitute.
Iroegbunam, who is currently 20 years old, hasn’t had many opportunities under Emery. The West Bromwich Albion academy product has previously been on loan at Queens Park Rangers, so he is accustomed to the demands of playing for a first team, even though it is obvious that playing in the bottom third of the Championship and the top third of the Premier League are two very different things.
In the event that a reorganisation is not possible, such as McGinn and Luiz serving as two sixes and three forwards behind Ollie Watkins, Emery will have to choose one of the aforementioned players to step in and try to replace Kamara, who Villa will unfortunately be without for the rest of the season.