Powerful, direct and surprising assets to excite: lowdown on Pompey new boy

What the clips show

The obvious place to start with Kamara is on the pitch - and it’s clear to see where the attraction arises for Pompey.

A defensive midfielder but one with a deceptive amount of attacking attributes, Blues fans will love to see his powerful running if John Mousinho can get the 6ft man operating at full throttle.

A striking attribute is the quickness of Kamara’s feet which allows him to get out of tight areas, drift past players and sidestep opponents who commit themselves.

Another standout asset is the Guinean’s ability to dribble the ball, with a capability to cover ground quickly - something amplified in transition when Kamara breaks up play and bursts forward.

When it comes to defending, the clips show ample evidence of the player staying on his feet and turning the ball over, rather than thundering into tackles. Kamara uses his athleticism to either make a block or lean the opponent off the ball, before starting his own attacks.

In terms of distribution a bravery to try to pass forward and break lines would’ve been a big box tick as Pompey did their homework. Yes, Kamara will pass laterally when required, but there’s ample evidence of his first consideration being a progressive ball, as he looks for attacking players making runs into the channels.

PSG to training with Haaland

Kamara’s move from Paris St Germain to Borussia Dortmund as a 16-year-old three years ago created a far amount of noise,.

‘Abdoulaye is highly talented and still very young player, who trained regularly with the pros in Paris,’ said Dortmund head player division Sebastian Kehl. ‘We hope that he'll now develop accordingly in the senior section and take the next step.’

That step never quite stretched to making into the senior set-up at the Westfalenstadion, however.

Kamara was keeping some lofty company, however, and was involved in the first-team training, regularly working with the likes of Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham on a daily basis.

He played in Uefa Youth League in the 2021-22 season and featured 13 times for Dortmund’s B team in the third tier of German football.

It was a similar story the following campaign with 15 outings arriving last term, though the Guinean did get two friendly appearances under his belt.

Racism controversy

There was disappointing headlines for Kamara two years ago, when he found himself allegedly subjected to racist abuse against Spanish side Sevilla in the Uefa Youth League.

The incidents allegedly took place in consecutive games, with Dortmund stating they warned match officials ahead of the second game and Uefa investigating the incident.

'Sadly, the whole incident relates back to something that happened in the first leg a week ago, when the same Sevilla player from yesterday targeted racist abuse at our player Abdou Kamara,’ said Dortmund After last week’s incident, we had hoped to see a firm stance taken by Sevilla, said Dortmund’s academy director Lars Ricken.

Injury doubts

An obvious area for concern is the volume of injuries the 19-year-old has suffered in his formative career.

Last season there were knee, groin and an unspecified muscle issues reported, while Kamara suffered a knee ligament tear in the 2022-23 campaign.

Those problems have made up big swathes of the past two seasons, with that an obvious area Pompey would have afforded consideration before a deal was concluded.

The good news is Kamara likely arrives at Fratton Park in decent fettle, after picking up a fair amount of pre-season football.

He was involved against the likes of Spanish out Valencia, and Villareal, as well as Turkish side Antalyaspor in warm-up games.

Transfer talk

Talk of Kamara’s departure from Dortmund picked up over the past 12 months, with there a fair amount of noise about a move to Italian giants Juventus.

That would’ve been to boost The Old Lady’s Next Gen side rather than move into first-team contention in Turin.

A move never accelerated, however, though there was talk of Juve maintaining their interest in Kamara.

injury issues were to follow, but that seems to provided an opportunity for Pompey to make their move. German second-tier side SpVgg Greuther Fürth were mentioned, but it was the Blues who sealed a four-year deal afforded the player for an undisclosed fee.