Even before the transfer window opened I wrote that Joe Aribo and Glen Kamara were the two key players that I thought we would be most likely to sell with Calvin Bassey’s end of season form also likely to attract attention, however, I didn’t think would actually see an offer of over £20million for him.
In Aribo’s case it was purely about his contract entering the last 12-months and because he arrived for a paltry £300,000 development fee, it just didn’t make sense to let him leave for nothing at the end of the season when we could make a decent profit and invest it into the squad.
As for Kamara, for all that he is clearly a quality footballer and one of our finest technically, I just don’t think he suits our shape, system or style of play under Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Tuesday night’s defeat to Union Saint-Gilloise proved to be no exception.
It was fine playing Kamara as an advanced number eight or number ten when we had a raft of injuries and Aribo was playing as a makeshift striker but, with Scott Arfield, Malik Tillman and Tom Lawrence available, he shouldn’t be responsible for our central creativity because he just doesn’t offer that sort of threat. I like him in a deeper role but we already have plenty of players capable of that job who wouldn’t bring in as big a fee if they were sold.
These two images show, as early as the 6th minute and under no pressure, exactly what I mean. Kamara has space and time to play a relatively simple ball either over the top or through to James Tavernier, he could even play an earlier ball to Antonio Colak who is on the defender’s shoulder and in a position he loves to get shots in from – instead, he does neither, holds onto the ball too long and plays a shorter pass to Colak who gets fouled as he looks to try and make something happen. A missed opportunity.
It wasn’t the only time either. On several occasions he refused to play a ball into Colak or over the top and would cut back and take the easy option. He wasn’t the only one doing this but he had to take more responsibility given the position he was playing and the fact that Ryan Jack was alongside him tasked with doing the defensive work.
Steven Davis could play this pass with his eyes shut, Alex Lowry could play it with his eyes shut and with clogs on his feet and Ianis Hagi could play it with either foot. We have the players to open up defences but Kamara just isn’t it and we would be better served replacing him with someone who can.