Glen Kamara is set to come up against one of his closest friends when Leeds United face Southampton on Sunday.
The two sides will be facing each other in the Championship play-off final at Wembley as they look to secure the last remaining place in next season’s Premier League.
Kamara is almost certainly set to be in Leeds‘ starting XI this weekend having produced two brilliant displays across both legs in the semi-finals against Norwich City.
He was named as Leeds’ man of the match in the cagey 0-0 draw at Carrow Road, before then completely running the show in the 4-0 victory in the second leg.
The 28-year-old – nicknamed as ‘snake hips’ by Ethan Ampadu due to his ability to wriggle out of danger – will be crucial again on Sunday for his ball retention up against a possession-heavy Southampton side.
Kamara says Southampton’s Joe Aribo is a close friend of his
Having joined from Rangers in a deal worth around £5 million last summer, Kamara will be looking to round off his debut season in the best possible fashion.
However, standing in his way will be one of his former teammates at Ibrox Joe Aribo, who is also a close friend of Kamara‘s off the pitch.
Aribo is likely to start in midfield directly up against Kamara, which adds yet another interesting layer to an already exciting looking play-off final.
Both players were a key part of Rangers’ most successful team of the modern era, which won the 2020/21 Scottish Premiership and were a penalty shootout away from lifting the Europa League a year later.
However, there can only be one winner on Sunday afternoon and speaking in an interview with the Yorkshire Evening Post, Kamara says his group chat has been bouncing ahead of the weekend.
He said: “It’s an interesting one. We were at Rangers together for years and we still communicate daily so it’ll be nice to play against him again.
“We have a lot of similar friends as well, we’re in a friendship group and everyone is talking about it like ‘you or Joe, what happens?’ But it’s just a one off game. And I’m looking forward to it.
“He’s a top, top player. Strengths…he’s got too many. You just don’t expect – I don’t even know how to word it – unpredictable.
“You don’t know what he’s going to do, sometimes he might hold up the ball, sometimes he might do you with pace or skill, sometimes it might be his passing. That’s the kind of player he is.”
Kamara will be keen for Aribo revenge after final day
Kamara and Aribo came directly up against one another for the first time since leaving Rangers on the final day of the season earlier this month.
Though both players did feature in the first fixture at St. Mary’s back in September, they were not on the pitch at the same time together.
Aribo and his Southampton teammates ran out 2-1 winners at Elland Road just three weeks ago, ending any lingering hope of Leeds going up automatically.
Kamara will be keen to ensure his good friend doesn’t get one over on him again on the biggest stage of them all.