Boubacar Kamara | Signs for Aston Villa

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bucky

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This is all an ‘in principle’ argument, but in reality, if Kamara is a player we have looked at and decide we do not rate, then he is simply not a ‘smart signing’. At least not in the club’s eyes. He’s only in that category if we think he’s a good enough player, but we seemingly do not, which would then make his price of little relevance.

I’m sure the people at the club are not completely brainless in that if Kamara was considered one of the best DMs by us and was free that we would not enquire. We should pursue who we want. We can speak about no-brainer signings if we like. I’m sure there are several cheap/free defenders Liverpool could have signed instead of spending 75m on Van Dijk, but they wanted that one, so they bought that one. The club is active in the market and nobody is saying we are unable to pursue our targets so if we have to spend some money then so be it.
They've also signed Matip on a free, who was never seen as some kind of talent like Konaté for example, but has been a very good player for them.
 

Bojan Djordjic

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The whole point of not signing anybody in January was because we wanted to:
1. Prevent signing players for Ten Hag who starts 6 months later to inherit and come to the conclusion that he has no use for said player/said player doesn't fit his system; and
2. Keep the budget as large as possible for Ten Hag in the summer to sign players he actually wants.

Whether it was the correct decision or not is debatable, but it was a conscious decision by the club, and there is logic behind it.
I can understand this a bit but we’ve thrown away our chances of champions league football because we didn’t after midfield which in turn makes it harder to attract players. Also, I thought one of the benefits of a director of football is that recruitment is less manager oriented which promotes continuity when managers leave.

Was never gone on the idea of Koumara with Tchouameni far and away my first choice but now I feel by the time we enter the market, deals will have been completed for anyone worth their salt. My biggest fear is we leave the position unaddressed for another year.
 

bosnian_red

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“All the stories” being an article from Mark Ogden, despite the fact that one of our scouts was part of the team that took Nkunku to PSG.
Point is that either the scouting team is shit, or they're being ignored. Time will tell which is the case for Kamara. But either way, United as a whole pass up a hell of a lot of good, cheap options for problem positions and then complain there isn't anything decent available or wonder how other clubs jump ahead while spending less. Like Newcastle, being a relegation level club and signing a midfielder who would walk into our midfield for a reasonable price in January.
 

bosnian_red

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I can understand this a bit but we’ve thrown away our chances of champions league football because we didn’t after midfield which in turn makes it harder to attract players. Also, I thought one of the benefits of a director of football is that recruitment is less manager oriented which promotes continuity when managers leave.

Was never gone on the idea of Koumara with Tchouameni far and away my first choice but now I feel by the time we enter the market, deals will have been completed for anyone worth their salt. My biggest fear is we leave the position unaddressed for another year.
We'll wait 2 years until we can get Rice on a more reasonable 80m and then claim it's a win.
 

Rozay

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They've also signed Matip on a free, who was never seen as some kind of talent like Konaté for example, but has been a very good player for them.
They signed Matip on a free from Schalke because their German manager obviously liked him. It is not to Klopp’s surprise that he has been a ‘very good player for them’. That’s why he signed him. There are hundreds of free players he has since not signed, and instead signed players, for money, in the positions they play in. I can only assume it is because he didn’t want the free players.
 

Kostov

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The price and availability of a player we do not want in our squad is and will always be of zero relevance to us. Naturally.
Unfortunately these last 10 years our recruitment has probably thought the same way, therefor hundreds of millions have been wasted, many many market opportunities have been lost and we are in such a shitty situation with a shit squad and we are the worst run big club in the world.
What is to say Kamara hasn't already rejected us now he has the chance at CL football next year?
I'd feel a bit better to be fair, knowing that we have changed our approach and tried to do a smart deal for once.

If the club and the manager have decided he's not a worthwhile target then that should be that. We tried a scattergun approach to signings with previous managers in the last decade or so, it hasn't worked. The fact he's available on a free and we need midfield targets doesn't mean we should pull all stops to sign him.
Scattergun approach has nothing to do with Kamara to be precise. He was on the market and established young CDM for more than a year, we had enough time to explore his willingness and worth to come and play for the club. Scattergun approach is going and wasting 50M+ plus of someone like Fred and realizing you got a 15m player at best.
 

bucky

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They signed Matip on a free from Schalke because their German manager obviously liked him. It is not to Klopp’s surprise that he has been a ‘very good player for them’. That’s why he signed him. There are hundreds of free players he has since not signed, and instead signed players, for money, in the positions they play in. I can only assume it is because he didn’t want the free players.
You are just waffling at this point. They signed Matip on a free, because he was a decent player available for good value. The same is true for Kamara. It's not like there is as much clamour for other free players on this forum. We will also sign players, who will cost quite a bit in all likelihood.
 

Rozay

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You are just waffling at this point. They signed Matip on a free, because he was a decent player available for good value. The same is true for Kamara. It's not like there is as much clamour for other free players on this forum. We will also sign players, who will cost quite a bit in all likelihood.
How the feck am I waffling? Klopp signed Matip because he wanted to sign Matip. He had been in for him long before his contract actually expired, and a pre-contract agreement was done in the January 6 months before his deal ended. If Van Dijk was out of contract, he’d have signed him for free too. He has not, however, pursued Kamara for free, yet is reportedly pursuing Tchouameni, who is not.

In short, Klopp signs the players he wants to sign, as do we.
 

bucky

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How the feck am I waffling? Klopp signed Matip because he wanted to sign Matip. He had been in for him long before his contract actually expired, and a pre-contract agreement was done in the January 6 months before his deal ended. If Van Dijk was out of contract, he’d have signed him for free too. He has not, however, pursued Kamara for free, yet is reportedly pursuing Tchouameni, who is not.

In short, Klopp signs the players he wants to sign, as do we.
Klopp doesn't sign the players for one. You are waffling, because you are presenting arguments like Klopp was a coach in Germany, Matip was a player he was familiar with, that's why he signed him. They signed him, because their recruitment department did their due diligence on him and came to the conclusion that he is a good player to take a chance on. If they are going for Tchouaméni, it's not to replace Fabinho, if anything they are going to play Tchouaméni alongside Fabinho. Hence why they wouldn't need Kamara, they still have Fabinho and Tchouaméni can play Fabinho's role as well.

Nobody who is arguing for his signing, is saying, that we should sign him over Tchouaméni for example.
 

Rozay

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Klopp doesn't sign the players for one. You are waffling, because you are presenting arguments like Klopp was a coach in Germany, Matip was a player he was familiar with, that's why he signed him. They signed him, because their recruitment department did their due diligence on him and came to the conclusion that he is a good player to take a chance on. If they are going for Tchouaméni, it's not to replace Fabinho, if anything they are going to play Tchouaméni alongside Fabinho. Hence why they wouldn't need Kamara, they still have Fabinho and Tchouaméni can play Fabinho's role as well.

Nobody who is arguing for his signing, is saying, that we should sign him over Tchouaméni for example.
It’s a common sense argument. It isn’t waffling. Even if Klopp did not already have extensive knowledge of Matip, mere logic would dictate that he was signed because Liverpool wanted the player rather than them deciding we might as well take him because he’s free. Because nobody does that and it is not how to build a team. So your presentation of Liverpool signing Matip as some sort of example has no relevance at all.

Nobody is arguing that we should sign Kamara over Tchouameni by name, but they are basically arguing that we should sign Kamara over the players that we actually want to sign.
 

Bubz27

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De Jong for 80mil springs to mind, and he doesn't even want to come here.
Good job we haven't actually signed him. Did Sasa Kalajdzic spring to mind? Or Djed Spence? Or Tyrell Malacia?

Point is we've been linked to plenty well know and plenty lesser known players. Don't go making judgements until business is done, and even then wait and see how EtH makes it work.
 

bucky

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It’s a common sense argument. It isn’t waffling. Even if Klopp did not already have extensive knowledge of Matip, mere logic would dictate that he was signed because Liverpool wanted the player rather than them deciding we might as well take him because he’s free. Because nobody does that and it is not how to build a team. So your presentation of Liverpool signing Matip as some sort of example has no relevance at all.

Nobody is arguing that we should sign Kamara over Tchouameni by name, but they are basically arguing that we should sign Kamara over the players that we actually want to sign.
No one is saying that. They signed him, because he was a good player, who happened to be available on a free. Again, the same is true for Kamara. You made the point, that Liverpool went ouf of their way to sign van Dijk, as a player they actually wanted over other players available on a free, since he was always going to be better than those players. Again, nobody would argue against that. The whole argument is that Matip has been a very good player for them, who they got on a free and who made signings like van Dijk and Alisson easier, since they are also operating on a limited budget. Which makes bringing up Matip in conjunction with van Dijk relevant, especially since he's been van Dijk's main partner in defence for them.

You and I have no idea whether Kamara actually is a player we want or don't want. Kamara would hardly stand in the way of us signing de Jong, Tchouaméni or other players.
 

KeanoMagicHat

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"One of the best signings we could make" :lol:
Name a better free transfer signing in a more important position?


Are you actually serious? There are a million reasons why they don’t want him, and at the top of them is probably the fact that he is Boubakar Kamara. Not Aurelian Tchouameni, Declan Rice, Frenkie De Jong or any other midfielder who is recognised as a top quality midfielder. If it were one of them, there may even be a greater basis for bemusement as to why we would not be interested. Turns out, barely any other club of note is interested either in Kamara, and I doubt they have all just missed the memo that he is free.

And I doubt they ‘get it wrong’ nearly as many times as you do. What makes you so qualified to determine that we must sign him? Do you have extensive scouting reports?Do you have dedicated scouts living in France watching all the games since he made his debut? Or have you just heard that he’s free?
I have Marseille fans as friends that say he’s top-class, multiple reports of his talent, any time I’ve seen him he’s stood out.

I’m looking forward to your 100 game scouting list every time you talk about a footballer from now on. He's a clear upgrade on our current midfield. Going for players just because other teams were apparently going for them got us Sanchez, Maguire and Ronaldo, which went well.
 
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AngeloHenriquez

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We need depth at the #6 position so as a squad player on decent wages, I'd advocate a move for him and in 1 to 2 years if he's not a competent backup, sell cheap
 

Lewnited

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I've watched him a fair few times, he'd be a definite upgrade on McTominay and Fred in the pivot/#6 as he seems to be very good positionally, can be pretty loose with his passing though. In the end I'm not overly concerned where he ends up.

I absolutely can understand the frustration though. Our entire fanbase has been crying out for a defensive midfielder since January 2017. Since then we've bought a waning Matic at the back end of his career and... no one else. We're coming up to our 12th transfer window since then. The club has to earn back that trust from the fans, it's not a given.
 

The Corinthian

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This transfer makes too much sense which means we’ll never do it.
 

KeanoMagicHat

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I've watched him a fair few times, he'd be a definite upgrade on McTominay and Fred in the pivot/#6 as he seems to be very good positionally, can be pretty loose with his passing though. In the end I'm not overly concerned where he ends up.

I absolutely can understand the frustration though. Our entire fanbase has been crying out for a defensive midfielder since January 2017. Since then we've bought a waning Matic at the back end of his career and... no one else. We're coming up to our 12th transfer window since then. The club has to earn back that trust from the fans, it's not a given.
Yeah I would have him and another midfielder in too like De Jong ideally. Liverpool, Chelsea and City and players like Kovacic, Gundogan, Henderson not making their best XIs, whereas we have players like McTominay starting for us, which shows the gap in that area of the pitch.
 

Kostov

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No one is saying that. They signed him, because he was a good player, who happened to be available on a free. Again, the same is true for Kamara. You made the point, that Liverpool went ouf of their way to sign van Dijk, as a player they actually wanted over other players available on a free, since he was always going to be better than those players. Again, nobody would argue against that. The whole argument is that Matip has been a very good player for them, who they got on a free and who made signings like van Dijk and Alisson easier, since they are also operating on a limited budget. Which makes bringing up Matip in conjunction with van Dijk relevant, especially since he's been van Dijk's main partner in defence for them.

You and I have no idea whether Kamara actually is a player we want or don't want. Kamara would hardly stand in the way of us signing de Jong, Tchouaméni or other players.
The guy is missing the point. he loves to talk about players we want and how only that is relevant. Market opportunities are constantly exploited by the likes of Madrid, Bayern, Juventus, now Barcelona and others, and basically all those clubs are better run football clubs than Manchester United. Yet he still thinks or trusts the way our club operates, missing on good players on a cheap constantly probably not being flexible enough to adapt to different scenarios.
 

Lash

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No one is saying that. They signed him, because he was a good player, who happened to be available on a free. Again, the same is true for Kamara. You made the point, that Liverpool went ouf of their way to sign van Dijk, as a player they actually wanted over other players available on a free, since he was always going to be better than those players. Again, nobody would argue against that. The whole argument is that Matip has been a very good player for them, who they got on a free and who made signings like van Dijk and Alisson easier, since they are also operating on a limited budget. Which makes bringing up Matip in conjunction with van Dijk relevant, especially since he's been van Dijk's main partner in defence for them.

You and I have no idea whether Kamara actually is a player we want or don't want. Kamara would hardly stand in the way of us signing de Jong, Tchouaméni or other players.
Only thing I'd say is I wouldn't see much point in signing him if we wanted De Jong. I think they would occupy similar areas of the pitch, but for different reasons.
 

amolbhatia50k

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We never sign players on a free unless they're terrible like Sanchez.
 

bucky

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The guy is missing the point. he loves to talk about players we want and how only that is relevant. Market opportunities are constantly exploited by the likes of Madrid, Bayern, Juventus, now Barcelona and others, and basically all those clubs are better run football clubs than Manchester United. Yet he still thinks or trusts the way our club operates, missing on good players on a cheap constantly probably not being flexible enough to adapt to different scenarios.
Yeah, agreed, my whole issue has been that I don't trust our recruitment. Hopefully with ten Hag that changes.

Only thing I'd say is I wouldn't see much point in signing him if we wanted De Jong. I think they would occupy similar areas of the pitch, but for different reasons.
I don't think we'd play them together. If anything it would be Kamara with Fred or as an upgrade on Fred, Tchouaméni. Us wanting de Jong is one thing, but I am not sure whether we can actually do it.
 

Kostov

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Only thing I'd say is I wouldn't see much point in signing him if we wanted De Jong. I think they would occupy similar areas of the pitch, but for different reasons.
I think they could work as a double pivot with De Jong and Bruno in front of both.
 

bucky

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I think they could work as a double pivot with De Jong and Bruno in front of both.
Neither Kamara or de Jong press enough or have the intensity for how ten Hag wants to play (Edit: as a pairing, I meant). That would only work against teams that sit back against us. Both need somone like Fred or better next to them.
 
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Mcking

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The guy is missing the point. he loves to talk about players we want and how only that is relevant. Market opportunities are constantly exploited by the likes of Madrid, Bayern, Juventus, now Barcelona and others, and basically all those clubs are better run football clubs than Manchester United. Yet he still thinks or trusts the way our club operates, missing on good players on a cheap constantly probably not being flexible enough to adapt to different scenarios.
For some reason the decision makers at our club has become the best judge of potential football transfers too. So leave it them, they know what they are doing.
 

Red the Bear

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Is this guy even good? Surely there would have been more buzz surrounding him if he was half decent considering that he's a free agent now.
 

Red the Bear

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Like Lash said, called up for France, can't be that bad.
Martial Beggs to differ. :nervous:
I understand that that might sound facetious, just trying to say that it might not necessarily mean he's United quality.
 

bucky

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Martial Beggs to differ. :nervous:
I understand that that might sound facetious, just trying to say that it might not necessarily mean he's United quality.
Martial's problem always has been his attitude though. That's not the case with Kamara. I understand your point about United quality, Kamara is not some must have player and he'd probably struggle at first, but if we aren't getting better players like de Jong, then he is the next best option alongside a few other players IMO.
 

Red the Bear

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Martial's problem always has been his attitude though. That's not the case with Kamara. I understand your point about United quality, Kamara is not some must have player and he'd probably struggle at first, but if we aren't getting better players like de Jong, then he is the next best option alongside a few other players IMO.
Well than I'm sure ten hag will have a look at him if that's the case.
Let's see what happens.
 

Kostov

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For some reason the decision makers at our club has become the best judge of potential football transfers too. So leave it them, they know what they are doing.
Like someone already mentioned before, we as fans should have zero faith in the decision makers. So much damage was made that in any other industry they would have been charged for fraud.
 

KeanoMagicHat

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Is this guy even good? Surely there would have been more buzz surrounding him if he was half decent considering that he's a free agent now.
There is a bit of a buzz around him, there's 18 pages here after all! It's not based off nothing. He's better than half-decent, he's a very good player with the potential to be world-class. He's only 22 and seems primed to move to the next level.

To compare with Fred and McTominay this season, De Jong (another target) and the top 5 leagues DM/CM leader in these categories in italics:

Passes per game
Verratti 88
Kamara 70
De Jong 51
Fred 48
McTominay 40

Pass accuracy
Kroos 95
Kamara 91
De Jong 91
McTominay 86
Fred 84

Tackles
Ndidi 3.2
Fred 2.3
Kamara 2.1
McTominay 2.1
De Jong 1.1

Interceptions
Tchouameni 2,9
Kamara 1.3
Fred 1.2
McTominay 1.1
De Jong 0.6
 

Red the Bear

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There is a bit of a buzz around him, there's 18 pages here after all! It's not based off nothing. He's better than half-decent, he's a very good player with the potential to be world-class. He's only 22 and seems primed to move to the next level.

To compare with Fred and McTominay this season, De Jong (another target) and the top 5 leagues DM/CM leader in these categories in italics:

Passes per game
Verratti 88
Kamara 70
De Jong 51
Fred 48
McTominay 40

Pass accuracy
Kroos 95
Kamara 91
De Jong 91
McTominay 86
Fred 84

Tackles
Ndidi 3.2
Fred 2.3
Kamara 2.1
McTominay 2.1
De Jong 1.1

Interceptions
Tchouameni 2,9
Kamara 1.3
Fred 1.2
McTominay 1.1
De Jong 0.6
Those numbers look good!
 
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