When Glen Kamara moved to Leeds United in the summer, you got the feeling the midfielder’s Rangers exit was a long-time coming.
Whilst the Finnish international star, now 28, was a key player for the club ever since joining in the January of 2019, the end of Kamara’s Rangers career was blighted with questions of commitment.
After the Rangers exits of Calvin Bassey and Joe Aribo – who remain close friends of the midfielder’s – something changed for Glen Kamara at Rangers and his final season was a consistent let-down.
Despite this, the protracted deal to take Kamara to Leeds United dragged out all summer long before a £5m deal with struck on Deadline Day.
With that transfer deal also including a series of add-ons which have not been made public, reports at the time of the move claimed Premier League promotion would boost the Ibrox coffers.
Now, after only one season Rangers could be heading for a Glen Kamara Premier League payday – but it all depends on how a tight Championship season finishes.
Leeds United to find out Premier League fate
With two games to go, Leicester City stand on the brink of promotion back to the English top flight after a 5-0 hammering of Southampton.
That result has put the Foxes four points clear at the top of the English Championship with victory over Preston this weekend guaranteeing they bounce back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.
Things are somewhat different for second place Leeds United and Glen Kamara however.
The Elland Road side face clashes against QPR (A) and Southampton (H) to end the season but Ipswich Town, on point off Leeds, have a game in hand.
It means automatic promotion is out of Leeds United’s hands and the club will need the Tractor Boys to slip up against Hull (A), Coventry (A), or Huddersfield (H) to gain automatic promotion.
Otherwise the club will drop into the Championship playoffs and will have to go via Wembley to earn promotion back to the Premier League.
The other three playoff spots are currently occupied by Southampton, West Brom and Norwich City.
Kamara experience with ‘big club’ Rangers invaluable
Glen Kamara has had an impressive first season at Leeds United.
The midfielder has been a key player in Daniel Farke’s team and made 35 appearances to aid his team’s promotion tilt.
The German manager had previously claimed that the midfielder’s experience with Rangers would be key to the club getting any promotion effort over the line.
“I think in general we have a really, really young squad and many young players when you have a look at our average age in the starting lineup,” Farke told the Yorkshire Post back in November.
“It’s important also to have some experienced players and again, we don’t have to speak about his CV, he has played for a big club with Rangers with always lots of pressure to win more or less each and every game in the league.
“He’s a proven Finland international with more than 50 caps already. So he was involved in many, many battles on the pitch, it was difficult for him in the start because he had no proper pre-season and not really games.
“And also the second half of last season, he was not that much involved. 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.”
Glen Kamara famously joined Rangers for £50k from Dundee in January 2019, going on to make 193 appearances for the club, scoring nine goals.
