Dimitri Payet has named Boubacar Kamara as the player who’s impressed him the most at Marseille. The midfielders played together in Ligue 1 before Aston Villa signed the latter.
Kamara quit the Stade Velodrome for Villa Park after seeing his contract with OM expire in the summer. The 23-year-old left Marseille after 17 years having joined as a youth talent in 2005. He spent every one of his seasons as a senior player anchoring a side that Payet led.
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The Marseille native enjoyed 170 first-team appearances before switching his life in France for Birmingham, England and the Premier League. He has already amassed 12 appearances with the Villans across all competitions and has been a key presence in their engine room.
From the off in claret-and-blue, Kamara impressed in Steven Gerrard’s midfield before the three-cap enforcer sustained a knee injury while representing France in September. He did not return to action until November and missed out on a spot in the Bleus’ World Cup side.
Unai Emery stood at the Villa Park helm as Kamara made his return from the bench in a 3-1 win against Manchester United. He has also since started at Brighton & Hove Albion and at home to Liverpool on either side of the World Cup in Qatar, where France made the final.
Payet told Marseille of the skill Kamara had before he left for Aston Villa
Payet knew Kamara was an influential presence before he agreed to join Aston Villa in May and made his France debut in June from their time together at Marseille. The pair featured in 134 fixtures together across all competitions, more than Kamara has made with anyone.
Kamara has also only made over 100 appearances in the same line-up as Steve Mandanda (119) and Duje Caleta-Car (109). While only his partnership with Morgan Sanson has led to as many goals as his connection with Payet. Kamara has been involved in three with both.
But it was Kamara’s defensive acumen that stood out most of all for Payet before the OM product left Marseille for Aston Villa. The West Ham United hero even lauds the Phoceens product as a greater match-winner than himself for what Kamara offered in the midfield.
“In every team, there is a player who wins matches,” Payet told La Provence. “One day, I told Pablo [Longoria, Marseille president] that this guy wasn’t me but that it was ‘Bouba’. If he wasn’t there, I didn’t exist.
“He was behind me, he caught up with my mistakes [and] he gave me the ball. He was an incredible metronome, he constantly progressed, reached a level where he deserved the France team and that’s why he was there – he was the one who impressed me the most.”
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