Perhaps no one in Washington is happier with how D.C. United's offseason shook out than striker Ola Kamara.
While The Black-and-Red made several offensive-minded offseason acquisitions as they look to move on from the Wayne Rooney era on Potomac Avenue, the biggest pieces — Edison Flores, Yamil Asad and Julian Gressel — are the kinds of guys who are going to create chances more often than finish them.
That has Kamara eager to again show he can be an elite MLS striker and just maybe help D.C. return to the heights of their early days, when they won four of the first nine MLS Cup titles.
"I'm going to smash everything," Kamara told MLSsoccer.com's Andrew Wiebe. "I really want to score a lot more goals than I’ve done before now. And I want to prove myself. And I also want that extra star for my team. So it’s an exciting year for me."
Kamara has at least 14 goals in each of his three previous full MLS seasons, which all came prior to his arrival in D.C. during the 2019 MLS Secondary Transfer Window.
He has yet to post a 20-goal league campaign in his career — 18 with Columbus Crew SC in 2018 was his best — but if ever there was a situation to do so, this year in D.C. could be it.
"I think we were defensively solid last year, and now we’re adding some offensive pieces that, for me as a striker, is very exciting," Kamara said. "So you have a lot of people that can give me assists. So I’m smiling these days."
