Aston Villa are interested in a deal to bring Glen Kamara to Villa Park in the January transfer window.
What’s the talk?
That’s according to TEAMtalk, who claim that, following recent reports suggesting that Glasgow Rangers would be willing to part with the central midfielder for a figure in the region of £10m this winter, Steven Gerrard’s side are currently one of the most interested clubs in a move for the 25-year-old – alongside French outfit OGC Nice.
The report goes on to state that, with Morgan Sanson looking likely to depart Villa Park in January, coupled with Douglas Luiz appearing set to leave the club on a free transfer at the end of his contract next summer, Johan Lange has work to do in strengthening Gerrard’s midfield – with Kamara seemingly a very attainable target.
Dream Luiz heir
While it is true that the loss of Luiz would come as a blow to Gerrard and his side, especially on a free, should Lange manage to bring in Kamara as the Brazil international’s replacement in the middle of the park, it would certainly help to soften the blow of waving goodbye to the 24-year-old.
Indeed, the £6.75m-rated talent was a key part of Gerrard’s title-winning Rangers side back in 2020/21, with the midfielder making an average of 60.1 passes – at a success rate of 91% – 0.9 interceptions, 1.1 tackles and winning 4.1 duels – at a success rate of 59% – per game over his 33 league appearances, with these returns seeing the Finland international average a SofaScore match rating of 6.99.
Furthermore, the £30k-per-week earner also impressed over his 14 appearances in Gers’ run to the Europa League final last time out, scoring one goal and registering two assists, in addition to making an average of 1.2 interceptions, 0.9 tackles, 0.6 key passes and winning 4.2 duels – at a success rate of 56% – per fixture.
It was this kind of performance level that saw Kamara become a firm favourite of the 42-year-old manager during his time in Glasgow, with the Liverpudlian stating of the midfielder back in 2019:
“He’s a terrific footballer in possession, always playing with his head up and looking to connect defence and attack. But what pleased me most is what I spoke about when we signed him in terms of how he’ll be out of possession.
“Will he hunt the ball back, be aggressive, work hard for the team and be a monster in the middle of the park? He showed signs of that against Kilmarnock and potentially he can become a top midfielder.”
As such, while Luiz – who has averaged SofaScore match ratings of 6.77, 6.87, 6.89 and 6.83 over his four Premier League campaigns at Villa Park – will not be an easy man to replace, Kamara would very much appear to be something of a dream heir to the Brazilian, especially for an extremely affordable fee of just £10m.
