Ex-Manchester City and Liverpool talent spotter hailed after pivotal Portsmouth transfer window role

Certainly Rich Hughes has been delighted with the early impact of Brad Wall as Pompey’s new head of recruitment.

Appointed as Phil Boardman’s replacement in May, the former Manchester City man has wasted absolutely no time in making his mark, with 15 players arriving during his first full transfer window.

In the case of Kamara, it’s a talent Wall had been tracking for a number of years, having attended PSG and Borussia Dortmund youth matches involving the talented midfielder.

It’s a player he had in mind when forming a new-look recruitment team this summer, with Dan Ashby switching from the Blues’ head performance analyst to assist.

Pompey subsequently last month swooped to sign the 19-year-old from Dortmund on a four-year deal after paying an undisclosed fee.

Hughes told The News: ‘I was privileged and lucky to work with Phil Boardman and he obviously left us to go to a great role, but Brad has come in and carried on the excellent work.

‘Dan Ashby is now also helping us with recruitment and I am utterly delighted to have those sorts of people working behind the scenes. It really is a team effort from everyone to scour the different markets, trying to find the value and players who are the right fit for us.

‘We are quite fortunate with Abdoulaye coming in, Brad had actually watched a lot of him playing at PSG and then, subsequently, Dortmund in the Uefa Youth League.

‘So Abdu is a player we have seen live and we really like some of his tools. Part of our recruitment model predicates on situations, Dortmund let a lot of their B-team players leave this year because they don't think they’re quite at this next level of progression.

‘Let’s have it straight, it’s a team which got to the final of the Champions League last year, so we have to respect that, they are at a top, top level and it is our job to work within that and take advantage of opportunities which present themselves.

‘Abdoulaye was a player we spoke about earlier in the summer before the Dortmund situation changed and the landscape was different.

‘Then, because we had done the work initially, it popped up in a different set of circumstances - and we were able to work within it and get the deal done.’

In addition to scouring France for top talent, Jacob Farrell (Central Coast Mariners), Elias Sorensen (Esbjerg) and Nicolas Schmid (BW Linz) also arrived from abroad this summer.

Goalkeeper Schmid and Farrell are still awaiting their Pompey debuts, although Sorensen registered on his debut in last month’s opening day 3-3 draw at Leeds.

Kamara made a favourite impact on his debut after introduced from the bench on the hour mark in the 3-1 home defeat to Sunderland.