Aston Villa have today announced the signing of Boubacar Kamara on a free transfer.
The 22-year-old will join Villa on July 1st once his contract with Marseille ends. He has signed a five-year deal.
Kamara has just received his first call up to the France national side and manager Steven Gerrard believes Villa have attracted “one of the most promising young talents in European football”.
The midfielder came through the Marseille academy and has made over 100 appearances for the first team. He helped the French side to a second-place finish in Ligue 1 this season, qualifying for the Champions League next season.
What did Kamara say
Kamara stated that he is excited for the future and knew Villa were the right club for him almost immediately:
“When I met with Steven (Gerrard), Christian (Purslow) and Johan (Lange) in my home I knew Aston Villa was for me. Their ambition and determination to succeed matches my own. I cannot wait for pre-season to get going.”
Our opinion
It is very clear that Villa have needed a defensive-minded midfielder for some time now. Many Villa fans were left disappointed last summer when we didn’t sign one and some will even point to this as the reason Dean Smith eventually was sacked, following a slow start to the season.
I won’t pretend to know a lot about Kamara other than that there are a lot of very happy Villa fans. He is a player who was linked with many clubs but for some reason he chose Villa.
Now its down to both the player and Gerrard to help him settle as quickly as possible and hopefully performing in the Premier League for Aston Villa.