As pacesetters for the Eastern Conference title Sporting Kansas City had no intention of selling Kei Kamara.
But just as has been proved across the spectrum of the summer transfer window – with moves for Gareth Bale, Mesut Ozil and Marouane Fellaini – everyone has a price. For Sporting KC that price for Kamara was some hefty salary cap space and a lump of allocation money.
With the play-offs coming into sight coach Peter Vermes must reshuffle his attacking hand, of which Kamara was a key card. But will Sporting KC miss the Sierra Leone international?
For Sporting KC Kamara was somewhat unpredictable. His inconsistency was at times infuriating, but his capacity to alter the course of a match underlined his worth to Vermes’ side. He leaves Sporting KC as the club’s second-top scorer, with 7 goals in 10 first-team starts and 5 substitute appearances. If Vermes is to miss one aspect of Kamara’s game it will be his goals.
“It’s very difficult to replace a player one for one,” Vermes explained after the move had been sealed. “You always find ways of either making up for that, or you find other players that bring the qualities they have and have them make an imprint on the team with those qualities. I feel confident in the guys we have on our roster.”
Of course Sporting KC have already had to make do without Kamara this season, with the 29-year-old spending three months in the Premier League with Norwich City earlier this year. Unfortunately for Vermes the precedent is hardly encouraging. Sporting KC were forced to play their opening 5 games of the season without the striker, and of them they won just 2, with Kamara’s return sparking a run during which the side lost just twice in 11 fixtures.
The defeat to Toronto FC (their second game of the season) in particular demonstrated just how much Sporting KC missed Kamara in attack, hitting the target with just 1 of their 16 efforts on goal. And of those 16 shots only four came from open play.
Compare that to the 1-1 draw against the Houston Dynamo in May, when Kamara made his goalscoring return, and the difference is clear, with Sporting KC finding the target 5 times from 17 shots, with 10 of those efforts coming from open play. In fact, Kamara himself contributed four shots on goal (2 of them on target), earning an impressive WhoScored match rating of 7.41.
However, Kamara’s influence is strictly in front of goal. In possession he was often wasteful. In fact, Kamara’s pass success rate of 69.4% ranks as Sporting KC’s fifth-worst average in a squad of 23. By making an average of 28.8 per passes per game Kamara contributes little to KC’s possession-based game, with fellow attacker Graham Zusi boasting an average of 40.5 passes per game in comparison.
At Norwich, Chris Hughton alluded to Kamara’s weakness when passing the ball, commenting: “He has a fair bit of scope to his game and we have seen a small part of that, but there are parts where he needs to develop.”
Perhaps it’s this slackness in possession that means Kamara was sought by Championship side Middlesbrough, and not a Premier League club, but Sporting KC will still feel the impact of his departure at a crucial point in their season.
Vermes must prepare for the remainder of the regular season without a key component of his attacking trio. C.J. Sapong is most likely to fill the void vacated by Kamara, but will the Virginia-born forward provide adequate compensation for Sporting KC?
Sapong trails Kamara is almost every attacking column (shots, dribbles, key passes and goals), with the exception of assists, where the 24-year-old has two compared to Kamara’s one, though it is worth bearing in mind that Sapong has started 11 games compared to the latter’s 10.
Indeed Vermes opted for Sapong on the right side of the attacking three against the Columbus Crew last week, and the results were emphatic. Sporting KC emerged with a 3-0 win with Sapong collecting the Man of the Match award with an impressive 8.3 rating.
The home side played eight crosses into the box during the win, which pales in comparison to Sporting KC’s average of 19 crosses per game. However, by playing 6 through balls their average in such column was improved, making only 2 such passes per game across the rest of the season. Sapong’s influence is already being felt.
Jacob Peterson will provide competition for Kamara’s vacant spot but Sapong is the more technically accomplished player, perhaps even more so than Kamara.
But Kamara was an unpredictable enigma and MLS opponents will be thankful that they no longer have to second-guess Sporting KC’s attacking frontline.
How do you think Sporting KC will cope without Kamara? Let us know in the comments below
