Diomansy Kamara

Diomansy Kamara

File:DiomansyKamara.jpg
Personal information
Full name	Diomansy Mehdi Moustapha Kamara
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Team information
Current team	Fulham
Number	15
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 16:02, 7 August 2008 (UTC)

Diomansy Mehdi "Joe" Kamara (born 8 November 1980 in Paris, France) is a Senegalese footballer who currently plays for the English Premier League club Fulham as a striker. When Kamara was born, his birth certificate had a typing error that spelled his last name Kamara, instead of Camara which is a holy name in Senegal.

Club career

Early career

The Senegal international began his professional career with Parisian club Red Star 93 before joining Italian Serie C2 side US Catanzaro during the 1999–2000 season.

He made 34 league appearances and scored nine times for the Calabrian club before signing for Modena FC of Serie B. In three seasons there he scored 15 times in 82 appearances, impressing many with his speed and agility.

Portsmouth

In August 2004, Portsmouth wanted to sign Kamara for a loan deal but eventually signed him for £2.5million for a permanent transfer, making him their then record signing. However, despite a bright start, Kamara struggled for form and injuries during the 2004–05 FA Premier League season, and after just the one year at Portsmouth they took advantage of a clause in his contract which allowed them to move him on to West Bromwich Albion whilst only paying £1 million of his initial transfer fee to Modena. Albion paid £1.5 million for Kamara.

West Bromwich Albion

Kamara made his Albion debut on August 13, 2005, replacing Kanu in the 60th minute in a 0–0 draw away at Manchester City. He picked up a yellow card in each of his first three games for the club. His first goal for West Brom was scored in a 4–1 Hawthorns win over Bradford City in the League Cup, on September 20 2005. It was one of only two goals scored by Kamara during 2005–06; his first league goal for the club was scored against Manchester City on December 10 2005, Albion winning 2–0. Albion were relegated from the Premiership that season, but 2006–07 saw Kamara hit a rich vein of form, netting 23 goals in all competitions and helping Albion reach the playoff final. His goalscoring exploits earned him the Powerade Championship Player-of-the-Month award for October 2006, as well as the PFA Fans' Player-of-the-Month award for February 2007. He was also named in the PFA Championship team of the year and won the West Bromwich Albion 'Player of the Year' award.

Fulham

On July 9 2007, Kamara signed a five-year deal with Premiership side Fulham; his £6 million move was a club record sale for West Bromwich Albion. He made his debut for the Cottagers in a 2–1 defeat away at Arsenal on August 12 2007; Kamara replaced fellow debutant David Healy in the second half. Kamara scored his first goal for Fulham in a 1–0 win at Shrewsbury Town in the League Cup, on August 28 2007. Four days later he notched his first league goal for the Cottagers, a superb late overhead kick to earn a 3–3 draw with Tottenham Hotspur. Later in the season, after having a relatively dry spell in front of goal, resurrected Fulham's Premiership survival hopes with two goals in the last twenty minutes (plus a Danny Murphy goal) secured a rare away win against Manchester City. Fulham eventually survived relegation, in the last game. Whilst playing for Senegal in a match against Liberia in June 2008, Kamara ruptured his cruciate ligament, an injury which required reconstructive surgery. He is expected to be out until early in 2009.

Career statistics

Template:Football player statistics 1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |1998-99||Red Star||Division 2||4||0||||||||||||||4||0 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |1999-00||rowspan="2"|Catanzaro||rowspan="2"|Serie C2||11||4||||||||||||||11||4 |- |2000-01||23||5||||||||||||||23||5 |- |2001-02||rowspan="3"|Modena||Serie B||24||4||||||||||||||24||4 |- |2002-03||rowspan="2"|Serie A||29||5||||||||||||||29||5 |- |2003-04||29||6||||||||||||||29||6 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2004-05||Portsmouth||Premier League||25||4||2||0||2||2||||||29||6 |- |2005-06||rowspan="2"|West Bromwich Albion||Premier League||26||1||||||3||1||||||29||2 |- |2006-07||Championship||34||20||4||2||2||0||||||40||22 |- |2007-08||rowspan="2"|Fulham||rowspan="2"|Premier League||28||5||||||2||1||||||30||6 |- |2008-09||3||0||2||0||||||||||5||0 Template:Football player statistics 34||0||||||||||||||4||0 Template:Football player statistics 4116||24||||||||||||||116||24 Template:Football player statistics 4116||30||8||2||9||4||||||133||36 Template:Football player statistics 5236||54||8||2||9||4||||||253||60 |}

External links

• Diomansy Kamara at Soccerbase