Camara, Henri

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Personal

Fullname: Henri Camara
Born: 10 May 1977
Birthplace: Dakar, Senegal
Signed: 30 July 2004 (loan, £1.5m)
Left: 30 January 2005
Position: Striker, Centre-forward
Debut:
Internationals: Senegal
International Caps: 99
International Goals: 29

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Biog

Senegal international striker Henri Camara joined Celtic in a season long loan deal from Wolverhampton Wanderers in July 2004.

Martin O’Neill paid £1.5 million to secure Camara’s services for a year with the Bhoys having the option to make the deal permanent by paying a further £5.8m, which was unlikely to happen at a Celtic that had begun to practise greater prudence in their financial management.

Camara was handed the impossible task of replacing the legendary Henrik Larsson who after seven magnificent seasons had finally bid farewell to Parkhead. It was a task Camara never came close to meeting and it took him until September 11th to net his first goals for the club when he bagged a brace in a 3-0 home victory over Dundee.

He may have been blessed with blistering pace, but Camara seemed incapable of adapting his play to suit the Celtic style and too often he was little more than a passenger in games. Although capable of scoring great goals he simply didn’t look like hitting the net anywhere near frequently and by Christmas it seemed obvious that Camara’s stay in Glasgow would be a brief one.

In fairness, his new manager (Martin O’Neill) was little around to assist as Martin O’Neill was absent away for most of the season caring for his wife due to personal issues, and this did not help new players trying to settle in to the changing surroundings. Camara had to take too much on his shoulders to take over from Larsson, and he simply got more stick than he deserved at some points from some supporters. He scored a number of goals yet he only convinced few if any that he was a long-term solution.

However, he didn’t always help himself. In a 2-0 defeat to Rangers at Ibrox, Camara was lucky to remain on the field after an off the ball incident in which he stamped on Gregory Vignal. Video evidence later led to Camara being handed a one match ban. This was likely the beginning of the end. Fears that his temperament would be a problem in the goldfish bowl environment of Glasgow football were a concern.

In the end, Celtic decided to move on the player – who had scored eight goals – and in late January, Southampton bought out the remaining period of his loan deal. His career never really got any higher or greater since leaving Celtic, and in retrospect his departure turned out to be a good move for the club. He was never going to succeed at Celtic, the club’s aims were still quite high at this point.

He ended up playing for almost a new club every season thereafter, although a £3m move to Wigan went not too badly, but he was never to really make much of a name for himself in the game. He was to move in time across a number of clubs in Greece, and to give him credit he played up to a good age, retiring from play at 41. In his career, he played for around 19 teams.

We wished him well.

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Playing Career

Honours with Celtic

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