Aston Villa Transfer Targets – Ibrahima Bamba

The Basics

Age: 21

Club: Vitória S.C.

Nation: Italy

Position: Centre-back/Defensive midfielder

Footed: Right

Under contract until: 2026

Bamba’s career began at his local club Pro Vercelli, where he played in the academy between 2015 and 2020 before moving to Vitória.

He made his first team debut in February 2022 and became a fixture of the starting 11 last season, starting 27 league games as Vitória qualified for the Europa Conference League.

His only exposure to the Italy national team to date has been in a 53-man training camp back in May 2022. Bamba’s parents are Ivorian.

The Links

Shortly after Villa’s owners, Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens, secured a 40% stake in Vitória, the club was linked to Bamba, with Duncan Castles reporting in The Times that Villa were “interested” in signing the defender and had been granted priority negotiations.

Record Portugal claimed Villa had “opened negotiations” for Bamba, but Vitória’s president António Miguel Cardoso later played the links down, saying: “There is no direct relationship between one thing and another”.

The Scouting Report

Strengths

Bamba’s positional flexibility may be his biggest asset. While going forward he appears more suited to a defensive midfield role, he has mostly been used at centre-back for Vitória.

The defensive intelligence Bamba has is more developed than expected for his age. He shows awareness in his defending and is consistently in the right place to get in the way of passes, crosses, and shots, and doesn’t dive in recklessly, especially when opponents are in the box,

When playing as a centre-back, he stays close to attackers in his vicinity, shows the ability to pass off opponents to pick up new ones, and tracks runners well. Bamba’s positions his body well, on the half turn ready to sprint back.

He defends on the front-foot, and this shows up in the data. Bamba ranks in the 99th percentile for tackles, the 56th for interceptions, the 93rd for blocks and the 82nd for clearances among centre-backs in the ‘Next 8’ leagues.

(The ‘Next 8’ leagues are the MLS, Brazilian Série A, Dutch Eredivisie, English Championship, Mexican Liga MX, Portuguese Primeira Liga, Copa Libertadores, and the UEFA Europa Conference League).

The athleticism Bamba has also comes in handy as he can run stride for stride with attackers looking to get behind the defence and recover if someone does beat the initial offside trap. He has the explosion to quickly get out towards the ball and block shots.

Bamba leaps well to head balls to safety but can also cushion them towards a teammate rather than just frantically clearing his lines.

He has no problem being physical with opponents, stepping onto their back and not allowing them to turn.

In possession, Bamba is extremely comfortable. He controls the ball easily and doesn’t get flustered under pressure and hoof the ball away. Instead, he calmly finds a teammate and gets his team moving up the pitch. He ranks in the 61st percentile for successful take-ons.

Bamba has range too, spraying long, accurate passes across the pitch to turn defence into attack.

Weaknesses

If he is going to be used as a centre-back, Bamba doesn’t quite have the ideal height at 6’0” on the nose. His spring helps but certain centre-forwards could take advantage and Bamba can struggle when headers are contested, ranking in the 4th percentile for aerial duel win rate.

Bamba needs to trust the line he and his teammates are holding at times. He tends to retreat too early when an attacker makes a run behind the defence, and he can play them onside as a result.

His pro-active approach to defending can get him in trouble at times. If he steps out of defence, it leaves gaps behind him which can be exploited. The physicality Bamba plays with means he is susceptible to giving fouls away.

The Italian could take better angles when chasing back, as often he will give the ball-carrier a route to go past him.

His confidence in bringing the ball out from the back clearly comes with risk, and he will surrender possession in dangerous areas on occasion.

Fit With Villa

Bamba’s game is similar to Boubacar Kamara’s, and he would probably enter the picture at Villa as an understudy to the Frenchman, primarily focussing on defensive midfield but also offering cover at centre-back.

The 21-year-old is expected to leave Vitória this summer, with plenty of European clubs interested, but Villa’s link the Portuguese club could be helpful in securing Bamba’s signature if they are indeed interested.

He would be one for the future, but given his experience at a solid level of football, Bamba would likely at least make the bench each game and could see some action in domestic or European cup matches.

Transfer Targets Series

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