Oumare Tounkara

Tounkara playing for Sunderland in 2011

Tounkara signed a professional contract with French Ligue 2 club Sedan ahead of the 2008–09 season, although he did not make any first-team appearances during his twelve months with the club.[4] In the summer of 2009, he was invited for a trial at Premier League club Sunderland, and subsequently joined the club on a permanent basis in July 2009 after playing in several of the reserve team's pre-season friendly fixtures.[4] He struggled with persistent injuries during his first season at Sunderland, making thirteen appearances for the club's second-string, but did not make any first-team appearances.[4]

Ahead of the 2010–11 season, Tounkara, along with team-mate Jean-Yves Mvoto, joined League One club Oldham Athletic on a season-long loan deal, in order to gain first-team experience.[5] He made his debut for Oldham just two days after joining the club, on 7 August, playing the first 84 minutes of the game as Oldham opened the season with a 2–1 victory at Tranmere Rovers.[6] A week later, Tounkara scored his first goal for the club, doubling the club's advantage when he raced onto a Kieran Lee pass before finishing calmly in an eventual 3–0 win over Notts County at Boundary Park.[7] He scored a late winner in Oldham's 2–1 home win over AFC Bournemouth on 18 September, slotting in Paul Black's cross to complete a late comeback with Oldham trailing with just fifteen minutes remaining.[8] Tounkara went on to score three goals in five games throughout late October and November 2010,[9][10][11] all of which coming at Oldham's home ground, subsequently taking his goal tally to five for the season.[12] In January 2011, Tounkara scored twice within the space of a week; firstly "crashing in a thumping drive" following a goalmouth scramble in Oldham's 2–0 away win at Plymouth Argyle,[13] before scoring just before half-time in a 2–1 win over Brentford.[14] He was a regular throughout his year at Oldham, scoring seven times in 46 appearances.[12]

He returned to Sunderland at the end of the season, and trained with the first-team during pre-season ahead of the 2011–12 campaign, scoring in a 2–1 friendly victory over York City on 13 July 2011.[15] He was handed a squad number for the season after impressing manager Steve Bruce in pre-season.[4] Despite early signs indicating Tounkara could feature for the first-team during the season, he returned to playing for Sunderland's reserve team during the first half of the season.[16] Tounkara stated — "I really enjoyed playing with the first team and learned a lot of things from playing with the fantastic players Sunderland have. It has been difficult to get a chance when you have players like them around you. It was a good experience but disappointing I didn't get a chance after that".[16] In March 2012, on emergency loan deadline day, Tounkara was again loaned to Oldham Athletic, this time on an agreement for the remainder of the 2011–12 season.[17] On signing Tounkara for a second time, Oldham manager Paul Dickov said — "As we know from when he was here before he is a threat physically and also has pace".[17] He made eight appearances, of which three were starting, scoring one goal on the last day of the season in a 2–1 victory over Carlisle United.[18][19] On his return to Sunderland, he was one of nine players released by the club in May 2012, and did not make any first-team appearances during his three-year stay with the North East club.[20][21][22]

Following his release from Sunderland, Tounkara briefly returned to France to play for Red Star of the Championnat National, but made no first-team appearances during his time there.[23] In February 2013, Tounkara joined League Two club Bristol Rovers on a week-long trial.[24] The trial proved to be successful, and he signed for the club on a short-term contract until the end of the 2012–13 season.[24] He made his debut for Bristol Rovers in the club's 3–0 win over Burton Albion on 2 March 2013, coming on as a substitute for Ryan Brunt on the hour mark.[25] He scored twice for the club on Easter Monday, in a 4–2 away victory against Dagenham & Redbridge, in what was also his first starting appearance for the club.[26][27] After the match, manager John Ward praised Tounkara's performance — "He has also got a good awareness and showed he can finish as well so he is definitely an interesting player. He's only had bits and pieces of games since he has been here, but he has worked really hard in training. The lad came over from France without a Euro in his pocket a couple of months ago determined to carve out a career for himself. If he keeps that sort of form up it won't only be me looking to try and keep him".[28] However, Tounkara was released by the club at the end of the season, with Ward stating the return to fitness of his other strikers meant the player would get limited game-time.[29] He made nine appearances and scored twice during his brief time with Bristol Rovers.[27]

Tounkara signed for League One club Stevenage on a free transfer in May 2013.[30] He made his debut for the club on the opening day of the 2013–14 campaign, playing the whole match as Stevenage lost 4–3 to one of Tounkara's former employers, Oldham Athletic.[31] Tounkara played a peripheral role during the first half of the season, making seven starts and 10 further substitute appearances,[32] and was subsequently made available for loan in January 2014.[33]

Two weeks after being available for loan, Tounkara joined Conference Premier club Grimsby Town on 27 January 2014, on a loan deal for the remainder of the campaign.[34] He made his debut a day after joining the club, coming on as an 83rd minute substitute in Grimsby's 2–1 away victory at Cambridge United.[35] Tounkara scored his first goal for Grimsby in his first start for the club in a 4–1 FA Trophy win over Tamworth on 1 February 2014.[36] He also assisted another goal in the same match.[37] He went on to score two further times for Grimsby, both coming in games at Blundell Park in April 2014; firstly coming off the substitute's bench to score a late equaliser against Woking,[38] before scoring in a 2–1 win over Chester.[39] During his time at Grimsby, Tounkara made 15 appearances in all competitions, of which six were starting, and scored three times.[32]

Tounkara playing for Châteauroux in 2018

Tounkara was released by Stevenage in May 2014,[40] and started the 2014–15 season without a club.[32] He joined JA Drancy of the Championnat National 2, the fourth tier of the French football league system, in October 2014.[32] He made his debut for Drancy on 19 October 2014, playing the opening 83 minutes in the club's 2–0 away victory at Metz II.[41] Tounkara's arrival coincided with an upturn in form for the club, scoring five goals in his five opening games, to help take them out of the relegation places and into mid-table.[32][42] His early season form at Drancy attracted the interest of Ligue 1 clubs Saint-Étienne and Toulouse respectively,[42] although no move materialised, and he remained at Drancy to see out the 2014–15 campaign. Tounkara scored his first career hat-trick in a 3–1 win over Raon-l'Étape in March 2015.[43] He ended the season having scored 11 goals in 19 appearances for the Parisien team, with Drancy finishing in ninth place in the league.[32][44]

Tounkara left Drancy at the end of the season, and subsequently joined Championnat National club LB Châteauroux on a free transfer ahead of the 2015–16 season.[32] He made his Châteauroux debut in the club's opening game of the season, on 7 August 2015, playing the whole match in a 1–0 loss to Fréjus Saint-Raphaël.[45] Tounkara scored his first goals for Châteauroux a month into the season, netting twice late-on in a 3–1 win against US Boulogne at Stade de la Libération on 4 September 2015.[46] He was a regular for the club throughout the season and adapted well to making the step up into the third tier of French football, playing 29 games in all competitions and scoring 12 times during a campaign where Châteauroux narrowly missed out on promotion following a fifth-placed finish.[32][47]

Tounkara remained at Châteauroux for the 2016–17 season and the campaign proved to be successful individually and collectively for both player and club. He opened the season by scoring in Châteauroux's first league match of the campaign, a 2–0 away win at Les Herbiers VF.[48] He was a mainstay in the starting line-up for most of the season, starting 30 of the 34 league matches, and making two further substitute appearances, scoring seven times as Châteauroux won Championnat National, thus earning promotion into Ligue 2.[32][49] At the end of the season, it was announced that Tounkara had left Châteauroux upon the expiry of his contract, amid interest from "many clubs".[50] However, in June 2017, the club stated that Tounkara had signed a three-year contract to remain contracted to Châteauroux until 2020.[50]

Tounkara started in the club's first game of the 2017–18 season, an away match at Stade Brest on 28 July 2017, although his Ligue 2 debut was marred after he sustained an injury in the ninth-minute and was consequently substituted.[51] He returned to first-team action a month later, coming on as a late substitute in a 5–1 win at Sochaux,[52] before scoring his first goal of the season in the club's next match, doubling Châteauroux's lead in an eventual 3–2 home win over US Quevilly on 8 September 2017.[53] Tounkara scored six times in 34 appearances during the season,[32] as Châteauroux consolidated their place in the second tier of French football by finishing in ninth position in Ligue 2.[54] He scored four times in 32 appearances in all competitions during the 2018–19 season.[32]

He spent the 2019–20 season with Romanian club Astra Giurgiu,[32] having signed a contract on 26 July 2019.[55] He made his debut in the club's 2–1 victory over FCSB on 5 August 2019, coming on as a 91st-minute substitute in the match.[56] Tounkara was limited to just six starts during his time with Astra Giurgiu, making 15 appearances in all competitions.[32] He returned to France and signed for Championnat National club SC Lyon on 1 June 2020.[32][57]