Boubakary Soumaré (born 27 February 1999) is a French professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for club

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

. He is a former France youth international.

Club career

Early career

In his early footballing years, Soumaré was a young player at

Paris FC Paris Football Club (French pronunciation: Help:IPA/French, aʁi futbol klœb, commonly referred to as Paris FC or simply PFC, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris, France. They will compete in Ligue ...

. He stayed at the club from 2006 to 2011, before joining the

Paris Saint-Germain Academy The Paris Saint-Germain FC Youth Academy () is the youth system of both Paris Saint-Germain FC, Paris Saint-Germain's male and Paris Saint-Germain FC (women), female teams. Managed by the Association Paris Saint-Germain, the men's section of ...

. At PSG, he was selected for eight appearances for the B team of the club in 2017, and left later that year.

Lille

On 7 July 2017, Soumaré signed for

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

on a three-year contract. His professional debut began with a 3–0

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

win over

Metz Metz ( , , , then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle (river), Moselle and the Seille (Moselle), Seille rivers. Metz is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments ...

on 5 November 2017. At the end of the 2017–18 season, Lille managed to stay in the Ligue 1, meaning that Soumaré's contract was extended by two years, as his deal entailed such an option. Soumaré's only goal for Lille occurred in a 2–2 away draw against

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

on 5 May 2019.

Leicester City

On 2 July 2021,

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

signed Soumaré for an undisclosed sum on a five-year contract. He made his debut for the club with an appearance off the bench in Leicester's 1–0 triumph over reigning Premier League champions

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

in the

FA Community Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is Football in England, English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA ...

on 7 August 2021.

Loan to Sevilla

On 1 September 2023, Soumaré signed for

Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...

on a season-long loan. He made a positive impression on the club, however Sevilla were unable to meet the €15 million required to make the move permanent, so Soumaré returned to Leicester City at the end of the season.

International career

Soumaré was born in France and is of Senegalese descent. He has been a young international for France at various levels.

Career statistics

Honours

Paris Saint-Germain U19 *

Championnat National U19 The Championnat National U19 is the highest tier of under-19 football in France. Organized by the French Football Federation, it is contested by 56 clubs that are split into 4 groups. History In 2009, the ''Championnat National 18 ans'' of Fra ...

: 2015–16 Lille *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Leicester City *

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

References

External links

Profile
at the Leicester City F.C. website * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Soumaré, Boubakary 1999 births Living people Footballers from Seine-Saint-Denis French men's footballers France men's youth international footballers France men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football midfielders Paris FC players Paris Saint-Germain FC players Lille OSC players Leicester City F.C. players Championnat National 2 players Ligue 1 players Premier League players Black French sportspeople French sportspeople of Senegalese descent French expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England French expatriate sportspeople in England 21st-century French sportsmen