Unai Emery may be handed pre-season boost at Aston Villa as Boubacar Kamara update emerges
Last season may have only ended a matter of weeks ago, but Unai Emery’s Aston Villa squad have returned to pre-season training ahead of the new campaign.
While the likes of Ollie Watkins, Ezri Konsa and Emi Martinez continue to perform on the international stage, the non-international members of the Villans squad returned to Bodymoor Heath on Monday (8 July).
New faces like Samuel Illing-Junior and Ross Barkley were spotted alongside some familiar stars, but Emery will have also been boosted by a new update surrounding Boubacar Kamara from Birmingham Live’s John Towley.
Writing on X on Monday (8 July) he said: “Boubacar Kamara also checked into Bodymoor Heath this morning for gym work as Aston Villa’s non-international players started their pre-season training.
“Brilliant to see Tyrone Mings, Emi Buendia and Jacob Ramsey working hard too. Such an exciting season ahead…”
Is Boubacar Kamara still injured for Aston Villa?
While the French midfielder is still a way away from making his return from injury, it would have come as a welcome boost to Emery to have yet another player on the road to recovery ahead of the new campaign.
The 24-year-old hasn’t played since February when he limped off in the second half of Villa’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester United at Villa Park, but up until then, he was one of Emery’s most consistent performers.
During that clash, no player was more accurate with their passing than Kamara who found a teammate with 94 per cent of his 36 attempted passes before he was withdrawn after 65 minutes, according to Fotmob.
Four of those efforts managed to find a teammate in the final third of the field as he stretched the Red Devil’s defence with his excellent range of passing alongside former teammate Douglas Luiz.
In possession, Kamara’s display was almost faultless as he completed 100 per cent of his three attempted dribbles in the showdown, more than Luiz, John McGinn and Jacob Ramsey combined.
When compared to other midfielders in the Premier League, there are very few who can be as dangerous as the Villa star with the ball at their feet.
According to Fbref, the 24-year-old places in the 90th percentile for pass completion percentage per match, with an average of 89.1 per cent and that includes an average of 5.83 passes into the final third.
However, what makes him so important to Emery’s system in possession is how rarely his passes find a teammate in an offside position as Kamara appears to be able to spring an offside trap with ease.
The Villa ace sits in the top 10 per cent of his peers for the fewest offside passes per 90 minutes with an average of just 0.05 a game. Not only is he not afraid to pass forward, but he also very rarely times it badly.
Out of possession, the midfielder isn’t afraid to work hard either. Over the last season, he placed in the 16 per cent of Premier League midfielders for dribblers tackles per game and the top 21 per cent for tackles won per match.
That ability off of the ball was evident in his final match against Manchester United where he not only entered an astonishing ten ground duels but also won 100 per cent of his attempted tackles in the contest.
What happened to Douglas Luiz?
With Luiz’s summer move to Juventus now confirmed and a hole in the midfield which needs to be filled ahead of the new season, getting Kamara fully fit once again is incredibly important for Villa this summer.
Over the course of last season, the Brazilian international played 53 times for Emery in all competitions, scoring 10 goals and laying on 10 assists for his teammates to fire the Villans into the top four.
With that huge asset now absent in the middle of the park, Kamara will have a much greater role to play once he returns to full fitness so Emery will be delighted to have him back involved at Bodymoor Heath.
In other Aston Villa news, a potential swap deal to see Denzel Dumfries arrive at Villa Park this summer from Inter Milan has been mooted
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