2018 Fulham Player Reviews: Aboubakar Kamara

Basic Stats: 32 appearances | 10 starts | 22 substitutions | 1,362 minutes | 7 goals | 1 assist

Economics: £5.4 million Transfer Fee | Signed: 2017 | Contract Ends in 2022 w/ a club option

Stats by Seven-Game sequences

WhoScored Rating Chart

Radar

Goals vs. Expected Goals

Transfermarket Value Chart

CC Thoughts: At the time of his transfers, supporters wanted to know if a little known central forward had the skillset for the Champions that would translate from guiding his previous club, Amiens, into Ligue 1. There are two thought processes to that answer.

The first is that he is just simply too raw and not good enough to start on a Championship club, and that might possibly be true. By the time Aleksander Mitrovic joined Fulham, Aboubakar Kamara’s role with the club essentially became non-existent. Add in the fact that his performances were mostly poor throughout the course of the season and you could see why people would give up on the joint-11th most expensive signing in club history. The red card he had against Bristol City at home was the last straw for Slavisa Jokanovic to ever consider him a guaranteed member of his starting XI.

On the other side of the coin is the fact that Kamara still has room to grow at senior level. He just completed his age-22 season and the Frenchman still was able to generate 3.11 shots per 90 minutes and a 12.8% conversion rate while having a solid ratio of his strikes inside the penalty area (30 of his 47 to be exact). Only Mitrovic himself was able to match Kamara’s scoring output of 0.40 non-penalty goals per 90 minutes, so Kamara knows a thing or two on finishing his chances given to him. Add in the fact that he was able to show his solid dribbling ability while on the right wing during Fulham’s playoff run and you could see a footballer that was starting to put things together at seasons end.

Let’s also not forget that he was able to put in some important performances for the club to kick start their record 23-match unbeaten run. The first was his two-goal performance that salvaged a point at Hull City while the other was another two-goal output in that amazing 4-1 win over Ipswich at home. So it’s not like Kamara is a slouch over here. But now that Fulham are in the Premier League, will the opportunities to see him further develop ever take place?

Key Stat: 37 right footed shots & 40 open play shots. Going back to Kamara’s 47 total shots, no other Fulham attacking player had a higher ratio of shots that were made contact off of his dominant foot. Along with that, no other Fulham attacking player had a higher ratio of his shots take place in open play. Only six of his shots came off his left foot while four were headers. Along with that, Kamara was only involved in three set piece shots: the fewest of any attacking player on the club that played over 1,000 minutes in the Championship.

Your thoughts: So what are your thoughts on the man known as “AK 47” in Southwest London. Do you see Kamara as someone with great potential in England’s top flight? Or will 2018/19 be another season where you will be seeing him come off the bench? Will he even get a chance to further develop as a footballer? Let us know what you think in the comment section below.