The powerful African striker joined West Ham United on a season-long loan from Wigan Athletic just four minutes before the August 2007 transfer window shut.

After playing in France and Switzerland during his early 20s, Dakar-born Camara came to prominence at the 2002 World Cup finals, where Senegal became only the second African team to make it to the quarter-finals.

Camara had originally left his home-town club, Diaraf Dakar, to sign for Racing Club Strasbourg in the late 90s before heading across the Swiss Alps in 1999/00 to Neuchatel Xamax, where he scored 17 goals in 32 matches.

That soon led to a December 2000 transfer to Zurich, where he bagged three goals in eleven games as Grasshoppers claimed the Swiss title, before quickly moving on again to French outfit CS Sedan Ardennes in August 2001.

After the pain of losing a penalty shoot-out in the 2002 African Cup of Nations final against Cameroon, Camara was also included in Senegal's squad for the summer's World Cup finals in Japan and South Korea. Camara missed the shock victory over holders France in the opening game of the tournament, but he was recalled for the Group A draws against Denmark and Uruguay. In the last 16, he scored twice - including a deadly golden goal - to eliminate Sweden but Camara's World Cup dream was ended at the quarter-final stage by a Turkish sudden-death decider.

One year on, Wolverhampton Wanderers paid £1.5m to bring the striker, who had scored 22 goals in 59 appearances for Sedan, to the Premiership. Henri made the first of his 32 league and cup outings as a late substitute in a 5-1 defeat at Blackburn Rovers in August 2003, before opening his goals account against Leicester City two months later.

Although his seven strikes could not save the Midlanders from relegation, Camara had still done enough to be voted Player of the Year at Molineux.

Faced with an unwelcome stint in England's second-tier, he opted for a season-long loan with Celtic but after scoring eight goals in 20 league and cup outings, he prematurely returned to Wolves in the New Year, whereupon he was immediately loaned to struggling Southampton.

Despite scoring on his Saints' debut in a 2-1 defeat at Birmingham City in February 2005, Harry Redknapp's side were already on the slide and his three goals in ten Premiership outings could not prevent a second successive relegation for Camara.

After returning briefly to Wolves, Camara was sold to newly-promoted Wigan Athletic for £3.1m at the start of the 2005/06 campaign. The Latics' record signing duly repaid Paul Jewell's faith with a dozen goals in 29 league matches to keep the Premiership underdogs in the top flight, while he also collected a League Cup runners-up medal following a 4-0 defeat by Manchester United.

Camara weighed in with another half-a-dozen goals in 23 outings the following season, too, as Wigan narrowly avoided relegation at the expense of Sheffield United on a nerve-wracking final day of the 2006/07 campaign.

After making his 56th and final appearance for the Latics in their League Cup second round exit at the hands of Hull City in August 2007, Camara - who scored 18 times overall for Wigan - joined West Ham on loan for the remainder of the 2007/08 term.

Before the man with more than 50 caps even had the chance to pull on a claret and blue shirt, he flew home to his native Dakar and scored twice against Burkina Faso to secure Senegal's place in the 2008 African Cup of Nations finals - a competition he was duly called up for in January 2008. He had made his West Ham debut as a substitute in the 3-1 defeat at Newcastle United on 27 September 2007.