Lamine Camara

Lamine Camara (born 1 January 2004) is a Senegalese professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Monaco and the Senegal national team.

Club career Early career Born in Diouloulou, Camara played for Galaxy FA in Dakar, followed by Casa Sports, before joining Génération Foot in November 2019.

Metz In February 2023, Camara signed for French side Metz on a three-and-a-half-year deal. On 15 April, he made his debut, coming off the bench in the 89th minute, in a 3–0 victory over Bordeaux in Ligue 2. In his second match for the club, a 3–1 win at Saint-Étienne, Camara assisted a goal for Koffi Kouao before being sent off in the 79th minute for tripping Mathieu Cafaro. After serving a suspension, Camara made two more appearances as a substitute as Metz gained promotion to Ligue 1 with a third-placed finish.

Camara became a regular in the Metz team upon their return to Ligue 1 and, on 22 October, he scored his first goal for the club in a 2–1 away defeat against Monaco. The goal was scored from his own half, as he hit a first-time strike from a distance of over Monaco goalkeeper Philipp Köhn after dispossessing Youssouf Fofana.

After finishing in 16th place in Ligue 1, Metz faced Saint-Étienne in a two-legged play-off. Camara assisted Ismaël Traoré's goal in the away leg and scored the opening goal in the home leg but this was not enough to stop Metz from losing 4–3 on aggregate and being relegated back to Ligue 2.

Monaco On 30 July 2024, Camara joined Ligue 1 club Monaco for a transfer fee of €15 million, signing a five-year contract.

On 17 August, Camara made his debut for Monaco in a 1–0 win over Saint-Étienne at the Stade Louis II in the team's opening fixture of the 2024–25 season. In the following match, he scored his first goal for the club in a 2–0 win over Lyon and was later sent off after being shown two yellow cards. He made his UEFA Champions League debut in a 2–1 win over Barcelona during the league phase on 19 September.

On 1 September 2026, it was reported that Camara was set to join Chelsea for €55 million (£47 million). However, the deal collapsed, after Monaco reportedly reneged on the deal.

International career

Camara represented the Senegalese national team at the 2022 African Nations Championship, where he was named best young player of the group stage. He went on to score the only goal of the quarter-final against Mauritania from a penalty kick. In the 2022 African Nations Championship final, he played the full 120 minutes against host nation Algeria and was one of five Senegalese players to score in the penalty shootout as Senegal won their first African Nations Championship.

Camara was then called up to the Senegalese under-20 side for the 2023 Africa U-20 Cup of Nations. He was named Player of the Tournament

Senior In September 2023, Camara was called up to the senior Senegal team for the first time by coach Aliou Cissé.

In December 2023, he was named in Senegal's squad for the postponed 2023 Africa Cup of Nations held in the Ivory Coast. In the team's opening match against The Gambia, he scored two goals as Senegal won 3–0. He went on to play the full match against Cameroon and the first 87 minutes of the round of 16 match, where Senegal were defeated 5–4 in a penalty shootout by host nation and eventual winners Ivory Coast.

Career statistics

Club

International

Scores and results list Senegal's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Camara goal.

Honours Senegal U20 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations: 2023 U-20 West B Zone Tournament: 2022 Senegal

African Nations Championship: 2022 COSAFA Cup third place: 2022

Individual CAF Youth Player of the Year: 2023 , 2024 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations Player of the Tournament: 2023 U-20 Africa Cup of Nations Team of the Tournament: 2023 African Nations Championship Young Player of the group stages: 2022 African Nations Championship Team of the Tournament: 2022