Every summer Daniel Farke has been at Leeds United, there has been a need for recruitment in central midfield. The first summer saw Leeds sign Ethan Ampadu, Ilia Gruev and Glen Kamara.
A year later, and Leeds brought in Joe Rothwell and Ao Tanaka before injuries forced the club to dip into the free agent market. After looking at Cheikhou Kouyate, Leeds opted to bring in Josuha Guilavogui.
Even in the most-recent summer window, Leeds had to deal with the departures of Rothwell, Guilavogui and Charlie Crew who has gone on loan to Doncaster Rovers again. Crew is certainly catching the eye.
Leeds spent £35m on Anton Stach and Sean Longstaff, two that look to be first choice alongside Ampadu going into Saturday’s trip to Wolves. But one midfielder will surely regret his decision to leave Leeds.
What has happened to Glen Kamara since Elland Road exit?
Having fallen out of favour at Ibrox, Leeds paid around £5m to sign Finland international Kamara from The 49ers’ recent purchase, Rangers. Over the course of 2023-24, he was a regular under Daniel Farke.
Nothing fancy, nothing off the cuff. But Kamara was excellent in transition, receiving the ball and giving it to better players. He played 42 times for Leeds, impressive given he only joined at the end of August.
Last summer, Kamara pushed through a move to Ligue 1 side Rennes – only a year after joining Leeds. Kamara cited Rennes’ “ambition” which felt like a dig at Leeds. Since then, things have not gone to plan.
Glen Kamara’s Rennes nightmare and Saudi Arabia stint
Rennes spent a lot of cash in the summer of 2024 with the hope that they would push on and establish themselves as a European side. Kamara started the season as first choice, but quickly fell out of favour.
He managed just 13 appearances for Rennes during 2024-25 before he was shipped out on loan to Saudi Arabian side Al Shabab. Sporting director Pavel Nedved was key to a deal that saw Kamara join on loan.
Kamara played a further 14 times for Al Shabab, after a 5-1 win on debut, but they didn’t sign him on a permanent. Now, he’s back at Rennes, failing to make the matchday squad in Rennes’ first three games.
He was on Rennes’ bench against Lyon on the weekend, but remained unused. With Leeds now in the Premier League, Kamara will surely be regretting his decision to leave, when it was his decision to do so.
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