Boubacar Kamara Scout Report At Olympique De Marseille 2021/2022 – Player Analysis

In every season of top-flight football, there are few stories more regular than utter turmoil going on at Olympique Marseille. In this season just gone  the 2020/21 campaign  André Villas-Boas, head coach since 2019, was sacked midway through the season after a debacle with the board over the signing of Olivier Ntcham  a player he was actively against signing. He offered his resignation, but Marseille decided to sack him in response to his comments, where he stated, ‘I don’t want anything from OM. I don’t want money. Not exactly comfortable grounds for a player to thrive at.

Boubacar Kamara, on the other hand, has performed consistently well over the last three seasons, starting regularly since the age of 18. Now 21, Kamara has been coveted by Europe’s elite since he was a teenager, but until now, he has remained at Marseille, accumulating consistent gametime for a team battling at the top of Ligue 1. Teams within the Premier League are now calling for his signature, and in this scout report, we will break down why he has garnered so much interest.

In this tactical analysis, we will cover his role at Marseille, his adaptability, and which team he might suit best in the English top flight.

Who Is Boubacar Kamara?

Since day dot, Kamara has been with Marseille, joining the club in 2005 and has stayed with them ever since. He has risen through the youth ranks at a rapid rate, moving from what is essentially kids football to the U19 squad at 15, a couple of years earlier than the typical trajectory. Only a year later did he make the move to the Marseille B team, Then, the year after that, Kamara made his first-team debut, in the Europa League versus Konyaspor, a match where Marseille would keep a clean sheet.

He began his time in the senior squad filling in wherever he could gain meaningful gametime. The aforementioned match against Konyaspor was at central midfield; the next game versus RB Salzburg was in the deep-lying midfielder role; two games later, he was featuring at left-back. It was the 2018/19 season when Kamara established himself as a first-choice centre-back. He played a pivotal role in Marseilles building out from the back and was the shining light in a poor defence.

Standing at 5’10” / 178cm, he was always more suited to that space ahead of the centre-backs and was never going to spend the long-term in a back four due to his relatively short height for a central defender. He is no slouch aerially, but he is less of a liability up against shorter attacking midfielders than tall target men inside the area. It was in the latter half of the 2019/20 season that he made the transition into defensive midfield, a position that brought out the best of his defensive skill set.

Defensive duties first

Principally, Kamara is focused first on defending and little else. Marseille are not a side who aimed to keep possession more than their opponent in every game, but sometimes their quality on the ball shined through to maintain the ball for the majority of the game. This culminated into a 52% average for possession per game, and as a result, Kamara’s defensive actions need little possession adjustment. With this taken into consideration, Kamara has a reasonably high defensive output.

Boubacar Kamara’s defens