Ridiculed as not good enough to be a starter in a Premier League side and labelled as a “pace and power” player. Adama Traore has opened his account towards redemption.
A surprise move to Barcelona put an end to Thomas Tuchel’s hopes of ever signing Adama Traore. The Blues were previously linked with bringing the Spaniard over to west London. The problem here was that the board didn’t seem so keen on the move.
Despite the price tag of just £25m, the Blues decided not to strengthen their team with this addition. It may just be one match in, but following Traore’s debut against Atletico Madrid could prove that we should have taken the risk.
Adama Traore lit up the Nou Camp on his debut for Barcelona. I must say, I had almost forgotten what he was capable of. He is a 1v1 menace on the wing, and that’s why he is now playing for one of the most historic teams in football history. Of course, Barcelona has had their dip in form; however, their new boss and club legend, Xavi, seems to know where he wants his club to go.
It may not be the biggest loss for the Blues, but it does teach us a lesson about patience and taking risks. We can no longer underestimate a potential transfer target of Tuchel’s. He saw a vision for Traore, and now somebody else is executing it over in Barcelona.
Thomas Tuchel wanted to use Traore in the wing-back role as competition for Reece James. Despite the growth of James in the past few months, you can never really turn down some healthy competition. James has suffered from a thigh injury in December and was set to miss at least eight weeks of football. In this period, it would have been worth looking at Traore to showcase what he is capable of.
On top of this, the Spaniard clearly excels on the wing. Chelsea has struggled with their attack in recent weeks and has not been able to find a sort of dynamic edge in the final third. That extra bit of creativity and skill could do the Blues some justice as it seems like they have just run out of ideas. The ability to pick passes, be successful 1v1 take ons, and also contribute to goal-scoring opportunities is something that Adama showed against Atletico.
As many people know, Atletico Madrid is not an easy team to break down, but Traore had a field day. Ripping Atletico’s fullback, Mario Hermoso, he managed to register an assist for Gavi after just 21 minutes. His first assist since April 2021
Make sure you have subscribed to CareFree Chelsea on YouTube! The Fan Brands team along with plenty of your football.london favourites will be producing daily Chelsea content for you to enjoy including match reactions, podcasts, football fun and interviews. You can follow Anita Abayomi from the CareFreeChelsea team to keep up to date with her work. If you enjoyed reading this then give her other articles a read below.
