Daniel Farke believes Leeds United are starting to see their best form in Glen Kamara after his most recent strong performance in the convincing win over West Yorkshire rivals Huddersfield Town last weekend.
Deadline day signing from Glasgow Rangers started his career at Leeds on the bench two days later, then after traveling to Finland on international duty he had another spell made a substitute appearance at Millwall before finally joining the team at Watford on September 23.
He hasn’t looked back since, recording five starts and two midweek appearances as a substitute position is not used.
During this period, Leeds have established themselves as genuine promotion contenders, a status that will be tested by early-season leaders Leicester City on Friday night.
To that end, Kamara’s experience in big matches against Rangers and Finland is crucial.
Farke said: “I think overall we have a really young team and a lot of young players when you look at our average age in the starting lineup.
“Having experienced players is also important and again, we don’t need to talk about his CV, he played for a big club with Rangers with always a lot of pressure force must win more or less every match in the season.
“He is a confirmed Finland international with over 50 caps.
So he was involved in a lot of battles on the field, which was difficult for him in the beginning because he didn’t have a real pre-season or any matches.
“And also in the second half of last season, he wasn’t involved much.
But each and every week, each training session on the pitch with us is helpful and he’s on a good path.
“So I think there’s still more to come and he needs a bit time to be there with 10 per cent, but I think it was probably his most complete performance.
And he’s definitely a player who gives us lots of quality on the ball in his decision-making which pass to make, can dictate also the rhythm of the game.
“I think he still needs to sharpen a bit up in the physical way because due to his lack of game-time in the last months but the more he plays and more he’s involved I think the better his physical endurance and stability will be and he’s definitely on a good path and further on, he is a top teammate, top lad, pretty much involved in each every joke that the lads have in the dressing room.
“So he’s a great, great guy to have around that we’re all happy together.
” Kamara is also exerting a positive influence on teenager Archie Gray, United’s prodigious midfield talent.
“We’ve got a very young Archie Gray and it’s good to have an experienced guy like Glen around,” said Farke.
The Leeds manager revealed in his pre-match press conference that Joe Rodon, Sam Byram and Cree Summerville – all of whom were substitutes as a precaution in the win over Huddersfield, could return He said: “We had to take care that yesterday they only participated in part of the team’s training session but today they practiced.
the whole session, so if there’s no reaction, all three will come back.
