Boubacar Kamara is back: Aston Villa’s best player and Unai Emery’s mentality monster in the middle section is the key to their time | Football news

With a drop of shoulder, Boubacar Kamara moved peacefully away from the problem and spread the game to the left. Later in the move, he received the ball back and played the penetrating passage to Morgan Rogers who led Aston Villa to restore the lead.

Kamara’s return from the injury in the second half of the Villa Campions League tie with Club Brugge recorded the first 3-1 victory in Belgium. If the midfielder can remain suitable for the rest of the campaign, he could make all the difference.

The Villa season is in balance, domestic and Europe. The club has big plans, determined to take this next step, but they are precisely positioned as they assimilate new plates and manage a crisis of injuries. Everyone agrees that the arch could be decisive.

Beyond Villa Park, the eyes are elsewhere. Initially, he was the aggressive Conundrum, Ollie Watkins against Jhon Duran. Now, the arrivals of Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio get the titles. Perhaps the placement of the projector in the big names is understandable.

But talk to the supporters of the villa and the importance of Kamara remains unchanged. Many are lost when they are injured, their reputation only increases their absence. The difference with Kamara is that every time he returns it offers an immediate reminder of his class.

The 25 -year -old Frenchman is such a loss for Unai Emery, not only because of what he brings himself but what he brings to others. Specifically, his presence in the middle section releases his partner Youi Tielemans to play the most impressive passes next to him.

The average length of Kamara’s passes is relatively short at 14.7 meters. The rate of completion of his bulletin as a villa player is 91.8 %, which reflects the safe use of the ball, although the expected rate of completion of the tank given their difficulty is only 86.7 %.

In other words, Kamara plays it simple, but he does it unusually well. It makes him the perfect foil for Tielemans. Belgium is one of the most creative players in the Premier League, completing more passes between the lines than any other medium.

Where Kamara makes the difference is out of the ball, preventing threats before they arise, removing the risk. Few do it better. Even this season, one was disturbed by an injury, ranked among the top 10 to deal with 90 minutes. Some of them were critical.

There is an example against West Ham that stopped a passage back. Slowly in the game against Leicester, Kamara’s ability to read the game avoids a three -three state for the villa. It was a monitoring unlikely to do any cylinder, but that mattered.

The nature of his work helps to explain how it is still under the radar, despite being magnificent in the middle section above and outside the ball. It’s been more than a year since Villa lost a game at the Premier League home with a free transfer from Marseilles in 2022 to the team.

This makes him one of the biggest opportunities in the recent Premier League story. His signature was a collaborative process, which began under Dean Smith in the summer of 2021, ended under Steven Gerrard before his skills were to be said under Emery.

There has long been a recognition that an elite holding midfielder could transform the villa. He regularly watched in Marseille, a gerrard among the contest he threw to see him in April 2022, the deal that was completed in May before Atletico Madrid could return.

Speaking to Emery about Kamara in January 2023, he quickly turned out to have done his own job. Typical Emery, it wasn’t enough to watch videos or even watch him close to education. “I had to increase my details about him,” he said Sports.

“I received information from different people who worked with him, when he was in Marseille, I spoke (former Marseille Athletic Director) Andoni Zubizarreta, I read former coach Jorge Sampaoli talking about him.

He added: “He has great potential, great potential, he plays well and is so focused on improving his game, improving his ability with and without the ball, he has developed, in France and here, now it is my responsibility to develop him even more.”

There is no doubt that Emery did this, helping Kamara realize that the potential, until an injury to anterior cruciate ligaments against Manchester United last February, brought an early end of his season. Villa definitely lost him in the spring.

If there is frustration, it is that Kamara was not available in Emery more often. This injury kept him until October, denying a proper pre-season and his return reached a steep end when he was recently forced by Ipswich.

Now, Kamara returns once again, as April could only bring up to eight races if the villa goes on to the Cup competitions. Speaking to Emery about this latest return, he considers it as proof of the notable player’s remarkable determination.

“Has a huge mindset,” Emery says Sports. “We arrived here two years ago and gradually we see its improvement since then, even with the injury. He is still moving forward. He returned to play even better than before.”

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Emery clearly loves Kamara. At a press conference after a 4-2 win over Celtic at Villa Park, the questions were naturally focused on Duran’s future and the broken news that the other Watkins striker was a transfer target for Arsenal.

The only time Emery’s face broke into a smile was when he turned the conversation to Kamara, hitting the word, “wow”, more than once in relation to his performance as a center-back. Kamara covered there for four games due to injuries.

He was not perfect when he was playing out, keeping a difficult night in the wolves. But it was imposing against Celtic and helped the team to beat Tottenham. As he composes as he looked, this was not really the point for Emery. It was his attitude to it.

“I talked to him the previous days,” Emery recalls about their conversation about changing his position before the Celtic game. “He was quick to answer me. He was ready to play and he has the balls to accept different challenges I can face with him.”

He adds: “It’s really the kind of player that every coach always wants in their team because he is a very good professional, always does his duties. He has a talent, but he works and helps other players on the pitch, provides the cover and has such flexibility.

“He has played as a center-back, average, right, and he is always ready to do so. He always focused on his new work. He is really fantastic and I very much appreciate this flexibility and how he shows us that his mind is open to what

Kamara’s flexibility is undoubtedly impressive, but its media against Club Brugge emphasized the point that it is in the center of the middle field, collaborating with Tielemans, that it can really lift the capabilities of this Aston Villa team. A decisive period for the player and the club is waiting.

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