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Why Boubacar Kamara vs PSG deserves more attention as Brian Madjo steals Aston Villa headlines
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- Why Boubacar Kamara vs PSG deserves more attention as Brian Madjo steals Aston Villa headlines
Boubacar Kamara took another big step forward for Aston Villa in the defeat to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday.
The midfielder has missed 27 games for the Villans this year after suffering a knee injury that kept him out for 172 days.
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He has been building on his fitness this pre-season, and will most likely start for Unai Emery in Villa's opening Premier League fixture against Brighton .
The 26-year-old is getting up to speed at a time when the Villans are without Amadou Onana , who is now set to be sidelined until late March next year.
Though Villa missed out on winning the UEFA Super Cup after falling to a 2-1 defeat to PSG, there were plenty of positives to take back to B6.
One of them was obviously Brian Madjo , who has stolen the headlines for Aston Villa, but another is Kamara, who hasn't gotten the attention he deserves.
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Why Aston Villa can't take Boubacar Kamara for granted again after PSG
Madjo has gained major attention after his performance against PSG, being labelled as a physical "monster" and even being compared to Romelu Lukaku .
The 17-year-old netted his first competitive goal for the club against none other than the defending European champions, and deserves all the credit coming his way.
However, though Kamara didn't have as much of a shiny performance, the minutes in the tank could be the most crucial thing for Villa ahead of the season starting.
Kamara played 72 minutes on the night, an improvement on the 60 minutes he got against Bayern Munich and the 29 he was given in the win over BG Pathum United.
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The defensive midfielder had a 90 per cent passing accuracy, completing 19 of his attempted 21 passes.
He had 31 touches of the ball, making a clearance, two interceptions and three recoveries.
Kamara picked up a 6.2 FotMob rating on the night, but it was merely about statistics for him, as another game under his belt was the most important thing for Emery to see.
Not only that, but the Villans seemingly have a new-look midfield partnership.
Marco Bizot painfully incompetent, Brian Madjo proves he's the future: Aston Villa player ratings vs PSG Is Joao Gomes the perfect midfield complement to Kamara?
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Many believe that Aston Villa have gotten themselves the deal of the window with the signing of Joao Gomes from Wolves.
The Brazilian started in midfield next to Kamara, winning three tackles and showing similar tenacity in the middle of the park as the latter.
He's not going to give Emery much going forward, but the Villans certainly have an extra layer of protection in front of their defence now.
Lamare Bogarde will selfishly be hoping Onana's injury can work in his favour, as his 18-minute cameo was successful, winning 100 per cent of his ground duels and completing 92 per cent of attempted passes.
It's not known if Gomes or Bogarde will be the solution to Onana's injury, but they are certainly different profiles in comparison to what Douglas Luiz had to offer.
