Boubacar Kamara is Aston Villa‘s unassuming star.
The 26-year-old has quietly evolved into one of the best midfielders in the Premier League.
That was evident on Tuesday as, without the suspended Kamara, Villa were thumped 4-1 at Arsenal, ending their club record-equalling 11-game winning run.
Villa still sit third and their season has been a stunning success, but Kamara’s influence is key and he is expected to return against Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
A free transfer from Marseille in 2022, the France international has been one of Villa’s best bargains, arguably one of the best in the top flight in recent years.
Described as low maintenance and humble, he has been at the heart of Villa’s recent success but deserves the spotlight himself.
In January 2022, Villa, then managed by Steven Gerrard, knew they lacked a real holding midfielder able to stablise the side and allow others, like John McGinn, more freedom.
Part of the discussion was how to get the best out of Douglas Luiz and find the optimal midfield pairing with a number six who could use the ball and had positional discipline.
Villa factored in how midfield partnerships were overlooked and how balanced they need to be, comparing them to vital centre-back roles.
Kamara had played at centre-back early in his career at Marseille or, when he was in midfield, he could drop into the middle of a back three.
It gave Villa insight into his skillset, how he would be able to build up play from the back, and the appreciation of his positional awareness and areas he would look to occupy.
The scouts saw a player of character and bravery, a young man willing to handle the spotlight at Marseille – having made his debut at 16 after joining the club aged five – where the pressure is palpable.
They saw calmness and composure which gave them the belief he would be able to transition to the Premier League well.
One negative was his injury record, and in his first season he missed 17 games with knee and ankle problems.
Worse was to follow when he tore his anterior cruciate ligament against Manchester United in February 2024 which kept him out for eight months.
Yet there was confidence that, given his workload at Marseille, he would handle the rigours of the Premier League and Europe.
Villa scouts watched Marseille’s 2-0 win at Lens in January 2022 to assess Kamara against another potential target Cheick Doucoure, who went to Crystal Palace that summer.
It was then they decided not to sign a central midfielder in the winter window and prioritise signing Kamara, having been tracking him for over a year, on a free transfer.
Tottenham‘s Rodrigo Bentancur, then at Juventus, was an option but there were doubts over if he was the pure holding midfielder Villa needed and whether he could bring enough discipline to the role.
Gerrard scouted Ibrahim Sangare – now at Nottingham Forest – for PSV Eindhoven against Leicester in the Europa Conference League quarter-final.
He also watched Kamara in Marseille’s Conference League semi-final defeat by Feyenoord.
By then, though, the deal had been done with Villa beating Atletico Madrid to his signature. Villa’s scouts were certain he was the best option.
The midfielder had meetings with both clubs but opted to move to England after chief executive Christian Purslow, sporting director Johan Lange and Gerrard flew out to meet him.
Maligned by the Villa fans for his 11-month reign, when he won 13 of his 40 games, Gerrard was still the manager who helped bring Kamara to the club.
But it is current boss Unai Emery who is reaping the rewards, with Kamara’s positional discipline over high running stats perfect for the structured way the Spaniard wants to play.
Emery rates him incredibly highly as he views Kamara as giving Villa a foundation which is hard to find.
“Not for us, not for me,” said the head coach this week when asked if Kamara was underrated outside the club. “We extended his contract last summer because we know his capacity and potential. He is still young.
“He had an injury last year which saw him out for six or seven months, but he has been fantastic since coming back and his progression means he is playing better and better.”
That the midfielder has recovered from that serious knee injury – and signed a new five-year deal in the summer – to eclipse his already impressive performances before he was out, underlines his talent.
Without him, Villa won only six of their final 14 games in 2023-24 to scrape into the top four by two points, their win percentage dropping from 66% to 37% in all competitions.
Kamara – who scored a stunning winner against Wolves last month – is viewed as almost unique, someone who can do the unglamourous spade work without the ball, at a subtle but high technical level.
A quiet creator, only Morgan Rogers and Matty Cash have made more than Kamara’s 179 passes into the final third for Villa but it is the midfielder who has the highest accuracy of 82.1%.
His 672 passes in the league this season are only bettered by Ezri Konsa’s 994, while his 31 tackles have come in two fewer games than Cash’s squad high of 32.
He has won the most aerial duels at Villa with 31 and the most ground duels with 69. This season, Villa have won 76% of their games with him but just 44% without.
McGinn has called his team-mate “one of the best midfielders in Europe” and Douglas Luiz has not found the same level with Juventus, or now on loan at Nottingham Forest, since leaving Kamara’s side in 2024.
He makes others better and does the simple things exceptionally well, an underrated trait.
In an age of headlines and the demand for the spectacular, Kamara still stands out.
