Friday 2 March 2018 11:36, UK
Adama Traore’s is free to play for Middlesbrough on Friday night after his red card against Sunderland was rescinded. With the help of Traore’s first coach in England, Adam Bate looks at why that is bad news for Leeds now that the winger is flying under Tony Pulis…
"He could go and play for Manchester City tomorrow," Tim Sherwood tells Sky Sports.
"Not Manchester United as he's not necessarily a Jose Mourinho player, but he could be a Pep Guardiola player and play free and loose. He could probably set the world alight. He has got those qualities. He is eye-catching and he gets people on the edge of their seats."
The player who Sherwood is talking about is Middlesbrough winger Adama Traore. He knows him well. It was Sherwood who gave the Spaniard his debut in English football. But perhaps surprisingly given these comments, it is under Tony Pulis that Traore is thriving.
Pulis is not famed for giving freedom to his players but it has not taken him long to realise that he has something to work with in Traore. "If he understands what he's got in the bag, then he could be a top, top player," said Pulis soon after his Boxing Day appointment.
The results have been dramatic. Prior to Pulis's arrival, Traore's three seasons in England had not even yielded a league goal. He has since scored three, including both in the 2-1 win over Reading. Last time out at home, he provided a brilliant assist for Rudy Gestede against Hull.
The 22-year-old winger has now started each of Middlesbrough's last 11 matches in all competitions, a sequence that is set to continue now that the red card awarded to him in the 2-2 draw against Sunderland last weekend has been rescinded.
It is already by far his longest run of consecutive starts since coming to England. Aitor Karanka gave him five in a row once. Steve Agnew and Garry Monk never felt able to entrust him with more than a couple. All preferred to use Traore as an impact player.
That was his role under Sherwood too and, while the former Aston Villa boss describes Traore as someone who "can dribble through holes", he shared those same reservations about the player. "When he first came in, he was obviously new to the level," he explains.
"To be honest, he had been playing in Segunda B in Spain, which is a very poor league. That was his first experience of men's football. To come over and go straight into the Premier League was a big ask. Some of the best players in the world take time to settle.
"It was very difficult in the position we were in to give him a run in the team because he wasn't that well respected. The biggest compliment I can pay him, if it is a compliment, is that the players didn't want to play with him, but nobody wanted to play against him either.
"He wants the ball to himself but he dribbles in the wrong areas at times. He's got to learn because he was turning the ball over where it was easier to pass it. You never knew what you were going to get from him. He was full of power and pace but lacked end product."
Traore is starting to address that, but there is no doubt that it is his dribbling that continues to set him apart from the rest. The numbers are outrageous. Despite starting only 14 of 34 league games, he has completed far more dribbles than anyone else in the competition.
There have been 141 of them in total. Nobody else is in three figures and his success rate is superior too. Traore is actually completing 10 dribbles per 90 minutes. To put that into some sort of context, Neymar completes seven and Lionel Messi five and a half.
Traore, of course, once counted those two icons among his team-mates at Barcelona - making his La Liga debut as a 17-year-old substitute for Neymar in a 4-0 home win over Granada as long ago as November 2013. There was no follow-up appearance.
Speaking to Sky Sports last season, Andres Carrasco, Traore's long-time coach at La Masia said: "He is the fastest player I have ever coached. But he couldn't think. He would just go, take the ball and dribble everywhere. At Barcelona, you need more than that."
More than that is needed at Middlesbrough too and Traore does continue to divide opinion. But the supporters recognise that he is the club's best chance of forcing their way into the play-off places this season. Crucially, they have a manager who recognises that too.
Traore has spoken warmly of Pulis, highlighting his willingness to talk to him on a daily basis, reinforcing his belief in his abilities and encouraging him to play a role defensively too. Once regarded as a lost cause, there is now hope that Traore's talents can be honed.
"Talent can always be developed," adds Sherwood.
"Making sure he is at home there and settled in his life is the first part. Then it is a case of wanting to learn and developing him into something special, which he possibly could be [because] he did want to learn and he wanted to continue his development."
The tantalising prospect of Adama Traore fulfilling his potential remains.
Don't miss the Sky Bet Championship clash between Middlesbrough and Leeds on Friday night, live on Sky Sports Football and Main Event from 7pm
