Diomansy Kamara

Diomansy Kamara

Kamara with Eskişehirspor in 2011
Personal information
Full name	Diomansy Mehdi Moustapha Kamara[1]
Date of birth	(1980-11-08) 8 November 1980[1]
Place of birth	Paris, France
Height	1.84 m (6 ft  1⁄2 in)[2]
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Eskişehirspor
Number	15
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1998–1999	Red Star Paris	4	(0)
1999–2001	Catanzaro	34	(9)
2001–2005	Modena	82	(15)
2004–2005	Portsmouth	25	(4)
2005–2007	West Bromwich	60	(21)
2007–2011	Fulham	59	(12)
2010	→ Celtic (loan)	9	(2)
2011	→ Leicester City (loan)	7	(2)
2011–	Eskişehirspor	81	(28)
National team‡
2003–	Senegal	51	(9)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 02 February 2014. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 30 November 2011

Diomansy Mehdi Moustapha Kamara (born 8 November 1980) is a professional footballer who plays for Eskişehirspor as a striker. He plays internationally for Senegal, whom he has represented at three Africa Cup of Nations.

Club career

Early career

Born in Paris,^[1] Kamara began his professional career with Red Star 93 before joining Catanzaro during the 1999–2000 season.

He made 34 league appearances and scored nine times for the Calabrian club before signing for Modena. In three seasons there, he scored 15 times in 82 appearances, impressing many with his speed and agility.

Portsmouth

In August 2004, Portsmouth wanted to sign Kamara for a loan deal but eventually signed him for £2.5 million for a permanent transfer, making him their then record signing.^[3] However, despite a bright start, Kamara struggled for form and injuries during the 2004–05 season, and after just one year at Portsmouth they took advantage of a clause in his contract which allowed them to move him on to West Bromwich Albion whilst only paying £1 million of his initial transfer fee to Modena. Albion paid £1.5 million for Kamara.^[4]

West Bromwich Albion

Kamara made his Albion debut on 13 August 2005, replacing Kanu in the 60th minute in a 0–0 draw away at Manchester City. He picked up a yellow card in each of his first three games for the club. His first goal for West Brom was scored in a 4–1 Hawthorns win over Bradford City in the League Cup, on 20 September 2005.^[5] It was one of only two goals scored by Kamara during 2005–06; his first league goal for the club was scored against Manchester City on 10 December 2005, Albion winning 2–0. Albion were relegated from the Premier League that season, but 2006–07 saw Kamara hit a rich vein of form, netting 23 goals in all competitions and helping Albion reach the playoff final. His goalscoring exploits earned him the Championship Player-of-the-Month award for October 2006,^[6] as well as the PFA Fans' Player-of-the-Month award for February 2007.^[7] He was also named in the PFA Championship Team of the Year^[8] and won the West Bromwich Albion Player of the Year award.^[9]

Fulham

Diomansy Kamara in action for Fulham F.C.

On 9 July 2007, Kamara signed a four-year deal with Fulham for £6 million and the move was a club record sale from West Brom.^[10] Following his move to Fulham, Kamara vow that he can score 'a lot of goals' in the Premier League with Fulham.^[11] He made his debut for the Cottagers in a 2–1 defeat away at Arsenal on 12 August 2007; Kamara replaced fellow debutant David Healy in the second half. Kamara scored his first goal for Fulham in a 1–0 win at Shrewsbury Town in the League Cup, on 28 August 2007.^[12] Four days later he notched his first league goal for the Cottagers, a superb late overhead kick to earn a 3–3 draw with Tottenham Hotspur.^[13] On 25 November 2007, Kamara second goal came when he scored the second goal in the match against Blackburn Rovers which the club each draw 2–2. On 29 March 2008, Kamara third goal came when scored against Derby County in a 2–2 draw. The draw resulted Derby County being relegated to the Football League.^[14] Later in the 2007/8 season, after having a relatively dry spell in front of goal, resurrected Fulham's Premier League survival hopes with two goals in the last twenty minutes (plus a Danny Murphy penalty) secured a rare away win against Manchester City. Fulham eventually survived relegation, in the last game. Whilst playing for Senegal in a match against Liberia in June 2008, Kamara ruptured his cruciate ligament, an injury which required reconstructive surgery.^[15]

In his first start for the Cottagers since his injury he scored a brace against Aston Villa and also made an assist to Danny Murphy to score, helping his side to win 3–1 on 9 May 2009. After scoring a brace, manager Roy Hodgson praised the striker good performance^[16] His next match after scoring a brace came when he scored a winning goal in a 1–0 over Newcastle United on 16 May 2009^[17] which Newcastle United were later relegated Football League Championship at the end of the 2008–09 season, the first time the club had left the Premier League after joining it in 1993.

After the 2008/09 season, Kamara has been linked with a move to join French Champion Bordeaux who wanted him to replace the departing Marouane Chamakh who joined Arsenal,^[18] with Roma keen to sign him as well. However, the move was rejected when Kamara is not interested in a move overseas and is hoping to find himself a new club in the UK.^[19]

In the Premier League 2008/09 and 2009/10 season campaign, Kamara began playing less in the Premier League when his first team opportunities has been limited. Despite this, Kamara scored his only league goal in the 2009/10 season for Fulham in a 2–0 victory over Hull City on 19 September 2009.On 17 September, Kamara helped Fulham secure an away draw against CSKA Sofia which ended 1–1 in the Europa League. On 5 November 2009, Kamara took a penalty himself and scored after being fouled in the penalty box match in a match against Italian side Roma which later he later come off on a 46th minutes for Erik Nevland and Fulham went on lose with a 2 goals comeback for Roma. On 1 December 2009, Kamara suffered a knee problems which kept him out for 1-month and made his returned for Fulham in a 2–0 loss against Tottenham Hotspur after coming on for Zoltán Gera in a 72 minutes in a game on 26 January 2010.

Loan to Celtic

On 1 February 2010, Kamara moved to Celtic on loan until the end of the 2009–10 season, and Celtic having an option to make the deal permanent if he impresses during his loan stint.^[20][21] His move to Celtic was allowed after Fulham brought Stefano Okaka on loam from Roma. Kamara had previous played under then Celtic manager Tony Mowbray when at West Bromwich Albion . He made his debut on 2 February 2010 against Kilmarnock at Rugby Park in a 1–0 defeat.

Kamara training for Fulham in 2009.

On 7 February, Kamara scored his first goal for Celtic against Dunfermline in the Scottish Cup with a sensational strike from the edge of the box, it was also the game that provided the first Celtic goal for his strike partner Robbie Keane.^[22] On 13 February, he scored his second goal for Celtic and his first SPL goal, coming against Aberdeen in thrilling 4–4 draw at Pittodrie and also provided assist Robbie Keane to score which Keane gave Kamara assist to score his first goal.^[23] On 20 February 2010, Kamara provided assist for Robbie Keane who scored an winning goal against Dundee United in a 1–0 win. Kamara them suffered an unjury that kept him out about 1-month and made return on 13 April 2010 against Motherwell in a 2–0 win. On 25 April, he scored the first of two in a 2–0 win against Dundee United after returning from injury.

As his loan spell set to expire, Kamara revealed he want to stay at Celtic permanently and that he would happily stay on at the club under interim boss Neil Lennon after the sacking of Tony Mowbray.^[24] Kamara revealed that he set his sights on securing a permanent deal at the club and describing it as his 'priority' to stay at Celtic. However the move never happened, as Celtic decided not to pay the £2.5million buyout clause in his contract. Kamara returned to Fulham and set his sights on a move to his boyhood club PSG.^[25]

Return to Fulham

Upon his return to Fulham, Kamara revealed newly manager of Fulham Mark Hughes made him stay and has been given a fresh chance. Kamara also revealed he would left Fulham if Roy Hodgson stayed in charge of the club (which he became manager of Liverpool).^[26] Kamara also get to have more playing time for Fulham after theclub has short of options following injuries to Bobby Zamora and Mousa Dembélé in recent weeks.^[27] Kamara scored his first league goal for them in the 2010–11 season on 16 October 2010 against Tottenham Hotspur in a 2–1 defeat in the 30th minute at Craven Cottage. He also scored in the 2–1 defeat against Arsenal on 4 December 2010 at the Emirates Stadium in the 30th minute where he played 73 minutes of the match and was replaced by fellow striker Andrew Johnson. Despite the loss, manager Mark Hughes praised Kamara performance and is keen hold down a regular place for Fulham.^[28] On 8 January 2011, Kamara netted a hat-trick and played the full 90 minutes in the third round of the FA Cup against Peterborough United in a 6–2 victory at Craven Cottage. Since the returning of Zamora and Dembélé, Kamara once again hadn't featured again for Fulham.

Loan to Leicester City

Leicester City signed Kamara on loan until the end of the 2010–11 season on 21 March 2011^[29] after Leicester City manager Sven-Göran Eriksson confirmed his interest in signing him.^[30] He made his competitive debut against Middlesbrough on 2 April 2011, making an assist in a 3–3 draw,^[31] and scored his first goal in a 4–0 win over Burnley on 9 April.^[32] He scored his second goal against Ipswich making the score 4–2. It was the last league goal to be scored at the Walkers Stadium before it was renamed to King Power Stadium in summer 2011. After his loan spell finished, Kamara admitted his contribution was disappointing at Leicester City but was open to a return.^[33]

Eskişehirspor

On Friday, 24 June 2011, it was announced by the club that Kamara would not be renewing his contract and had left the club to sign with Turkish club Eskisehirspor.^[34] On 10 September 2011, Kamara made his debut in the Eskişehirspor shirt against Beşiktaş in a 2–1 win. The following week after making his debut, Kamara scored his first goal for Eskişehirspor in a 4–0 win over Sivasspor on 18 September 2011. Since then, Kamara began a goalscoring form and is the top scorer for the club in his first season with 10 and is the second top assist with 5 behind defender Dedê with 10.

International career

Kamara has played 51 games and scored nine goals for Senegal.

Career statistics

As of 15 January 2011^[35]

References

External links

• Diomansy Kamara career stats at Soccerbase

Senegal squads v t e Senegal squad – 2004 African Cup of Nations 1 Sylva 2 Daf 3 Faye 4 Malick Diop 5 Diawara 6 Cissé 7 Camara 8 N'Diaye 9 Kamara 10 Sakho 11 Diouf 12 Mendy 13 Diatta 14 N'Doye 15 Diao 16 Diallo 17 Coly 18 Niang 19 Bouba Diop 20 Diagne-Faye 21 Beye 22 Cissokho Coach: Stéphan v t e Senegal squad – 2006 Africa Cup of Nations Fourth Place 1 Sylva 2 Daf 3 N'Daw 4 Diakhaté 5 Diawara 6 Barry 7 H. Camara 8 Niang 9 S. Camara 10 Ba 11 E. Diouf 12 A. Faye 13 Diatta 14 Mendy 15 Kamara 16 M. Diouf 17 Coly 18 Dramé 19 Bouba Diop 20 Diagne-Faye 21 Beye 22 N'Diaye 23 Djiba Coach: Sarr v t e Senegal squad – 2008 Africa Cup of Nations 1 Sylva 2 Sonko 3 N'Daw 4 Sarr 5 Diawara 6 I. Faye 7 Camara 8 Niang 9 Gueye 10 N'Doye 11 Diouf 12 Bayal Sall 13 Diatta 14 Papa Waigo 15 Kamara 16 C. N'Diaye 17 Sougou 18 Mendy 19 Bouba Diop 20 Diagne-Faye 21 Beye 22 Ba 23 Coundoul Coach: Kasperczak (L. N'Diaye)