Adama Traore

NoloBoro said:
This thread makes me realise that I often feel I see a different game to others.
For example, I read the threads about Traore, who I have nothing against, seems a decent enough lad who always tried hard but in my opinion didn’t earn the plaudits he received.
Conversely Stuart Downing, positively the best footballer I’ve seen us produce, a Boro lad also has been unduly hammered on here by some. Despite being a sublimely gifted player and one of the best crosser and long range passer I can recall.
I just can’t fathom it??
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Downing was treat with far too much familiarity by our fans, he got shafted out of a dream move to Spurs to keep boro stable financially, he stayed in the January to keep us up when yet again he could have moved. Came back from injury to boss it at Aston Villa, was hard done to at Liverpool imo and had a tough time if it with England.. very Chelsea centric.. his state speak for themselves.. he was amounght the very best in the prem and still flying high with West Ham when he returned to boro to fulfil a lifelong dream.

Traore was like a shiny toy that we weren’t meant to have, at the same time as him being the new Lionel Messi.. he was non league at best, brainless, like a headless chicken.

Folks came around when he left or £18m but he had his knickers the same as Shwarzer and more recently Tavernier. Raw pace is easy to understand, it’s exciting.

Creating chances, creating space and intelligent movement is more difficult to understand. Not many managed to get te best out of Downing while he was here Karanka, Monk, Pulis.. Mowbray got a tune out of him at the end with Blackburn.

Adama Traore was linked with Spurs, loaned out to Barcelona.. now it looks like he’s gonna leave on a free at the end of the season. Still only 26
2019/20 at his peak with Wolves
2020/21 great again
2021/22 went on loan to Barcelona in the January

With a handful of games for Spain he should have really been there with them at the World Cup if he was progressing as expected.. still could get picked up with a decent contact.

Wolves have offered £3m a season, meanwhile he’s linked with Leeds as well as Napoli
 
Yep. A player who scored 5 and assisted 12 in one season had no end product for us….
Honestly, I don’t know why some fans bother with football, if they didn’t enjoy that year of Traore. Most exciting player we’ve had for years, doing some outrageous stuff. He was regularly running half the length of the pitch, beating 4 or 5 players and dragging teams all over the place, whilst also creating direct assists. If you can’t appreciate that then 🤷🏻‍♂️. Traore was an absolute beast for us for one season. He was also raved about on MOTD every other week in his first season for Wolves.
What he did before or since shouldn’t detract from the fact he was an absolute joy that we were lucky to behold for that one season.
 
NoloBoro said:
Mate, they were dark days. I’m not saying I didn’t like him, I just don’t understand the adulation he got.

Akpom’s transformation has been incredible admittedly but Traore, as fast and as strong as he was flattered to deceive.

But… that’s just an opinion and that’s what makes the game great. UTB
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Were they? Only time we have made the playoffs since being relegated.
 
Nano said:
Some people are utterly clueless. He is incredibly talented and can do things very few people in world football can do. He might be a bit of a luxury player that doesn't fit perfectly in a struggling team in the PL but in the championship he'd be like an adult playing against school kids. He's far too good for us.
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Nail on head. How people can say they wouldn't want him back here. Just watch a youtube video of what he did to Bolton that day at their place. There was many more games like that too. He's an unbelievable player. I don't think Wolves have ever got the best out of him. Nuno used to give him defensive responsibilities, as did Karanka. They just held him back. It was Pulis of all people that came in and realised you just need to let him get at teams. When he's left to do that he's absolutely unstoppable.
 
FabioPorkpie said:
Yep. A player who scored 5 and assisted 12 in one season had no end product for us….
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And on the same thread we have people creaming off over Downing who produced naff all since his return but his end product probably doesn’t matter for some reason because he’s dead intelligent.

Funny how we pick and choose where “end product” matters isn’t it? As you say Traore could dance past 4 players and have a team all over the place and then swing a cross in that no one gets on the end of but Downing can turn back, pass it 5 yards inside and he’s dead clever for retaining possession.

It’s like I said on a thread yesterday about Jones, Boro fans would rather zero excitement, zero unpredictability as long as it meant no mistakes were made.

Traore goes on to play for Barcelona but Boro fans wouldn’t have him back, it’s unreal.
 
Traore played for us 5 years ago, he was arguably the best player we'd had in a decade for a 6 month period.

Since then, he's scored 14 goals and 22 assists in 190 games.

It's a really poor record for an out and out attacking player.

I'd have him back in a heart beat, but throughout his career he's struggled to offer enough end product.
 
The Card Cheat said:
Also for people trotting out the no end product cliche. Have we had a winger since he left who has been directly involved in 17 goals in a season? Have we had one in the last 20 years?;
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(y)

Those goals and assists were basically all in half a season as well, after Pulis came in. Monk hardly used Traore. Essentially those 5 months under Pulis are the only time in Traores career that he's been a guaranteed starter, playing as a winger, on the right hand side, with an intelligent and athletic striker to aim at in the middle.

Before and since he's played as a full back, wing back, striker, had worse strikers to play alongside, been shifted to the left, had psychotic managers screaming at him, used as a sub. And then people use those times as a stick to beat him with. It's very harsh in my opinion.

If he plays in his position, with good teammates, he's prolific.
 
Chappy112 said:
Well if Barca wouldn’t have him back then he can’t be good enough for Boro either 😂
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A failed loan spell at Barcelona isn't exactly a selling point for him.

People try the same with Braithwaite, he signed for them in an emergency and they spent the next few years trying to get rid of him.

Traore is definitely still good enough to play for Middlesbrough, but I don't get why people go out of their way to defend his record after leaving here, it's poor.
 
TeaCider said:
A failed loan spell at Barcelona isn't exactly a selling point for him.

People try the same with Braithwaite, he signed for them in an emergency and they spent the next few years trying to get rid of him.
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4 assists in 700 mins for Barcelona. No end product though.

Braithwaite is an absolute **** but he’s better than any player we currently have. You don’t just play for Barca.
 
Can’t believe people have forgotten how good Adama was for us in that Pulis season. He Merson’ed us into the playoffs. An absolute joy to watch, way too good for this league.

Stewie Downing was also a joy to watch in his first spell here, so good. Second time around it was safety-first, 5 yard backwards passes, he didn’t have the personality to take over that team.

Have said it before on here but Gaston embarassed him as a number 10, we suddenly became a dynamic creative team overnight.

Adama’s talent level is Barcelona. There are so few people in world football who can dribble like that. Give your heads a shake if you’ve forgotten how good he was, he’s an absolute wrecking ball. Second best dribbler I’ve ever seen after Ronaldo.
 
Duffman said:
When he was at the Boro we all sat on the edge of our seat when he got the ball and started running at the opposition. Nobody has got near giving us that feeling of excitement since. I would have him back in a heartbeat
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100% right

Not many players who can tare through a midfield and defence like he does in the blink of an eye , He was the most exiting player since the little fella to pull on a Boro shirt .
 
Chappy112 said:
And on the same thread we have people creaming off over Downing who produced naff all since his return but his end product probably doesn’t matter for some reason because he’s dead intelligent.

Funny how we pick and choose where “end product” matters isn’t it? As you say Traore could dance past 4 players and have a team all over the place and then swing a cross in that no one gets on the end of but Downing can turn back, pass it 5 yards inside and he’s dead clever for retaining possession.

It’s like I said on a thread yesterday about Jones, Boro fans would rather zero excitement, zero unpredictability as long as it meant no mistakes were made.

Traore goes on to play for Barcelona but Boro fans wouldn’t have him back, it’s unreal.
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Well said Chappy and it's a point I make all the time about Jones. Wide players who are expected to beat a man will lose possession sometimes. It doesn't make them bad players for losing possession. It takes courage to then pick the ball up and try and beat your man again.

People who make the point about Adama only having pace and nothing else. If that's the case why couldn't Usain Bolt make it as a footballer? Adama had some of the best footwork I've ever seen in a Boro shirt. He had far more to his game than just pace.
 
18MFC76 said:
Well said Chappy and it's a point I make all the time about Jones. Wide players who are expected to beat a man will lose possession sometimes. It doesn't make them bad players for losing possession. It takes courage to then pick the ball up and try and beat your man again.

People who make the point about Adama only having pace and nothing else. If that's the case why couldn't Usain Bolt make it as a footballer? Adama had some of the best footwork I've ever seen in a Boro shirt. He had far more to his game than just pace.
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Anyone - literally anyone with a bit of athletic ability can learn how to defend and play short passes and become an academy player.

You can’t teach the stuff that Adama and Jones and Haaland does. That’s why they’re so expensive and such rare birds.
 
Really extreme views on here sometimes. He was sold for 18mil so he can't have been doing that bad for us.

He can be ultimately exciting and a luxury player at the same time.

Downing in his prime I would say is worlds ahead of Traore, when they were at Boro together Downing was in his twilight.

I would love and hate to have Traore back. A fan favourite but a managers nightmare I would say.
 
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