Why Wolves star Adama Traore would be a top-class signing for Leeds United

According to 90min (h/t Express), Leeds United are eyeing a rather audacious swoop for Adama Traore. The Wolves speedster has a contract that runs until 2023 but talks of a new deal have stalled between the club and the player. Leeds are said to hold some advantage in the form of Director of Football Victor Orta, who brought Traore to Middlesbrough.

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A youth product of Barcelona, Adama Traore featured mainly for the reserves and made only four first-team appearances before moving to England with Aston Villa in 2015. He scored just once in 11 outings as the Villans suffered relegation from the Premier League at the end of the 2015-16 season.

Traore was snapped up by newly-promoted Middlesbrough in the summer of 2016. But he once again struggled to make a big impact and suffered relegation from the top-flight for the second successive campaign.

The 24-year-old’s impressive debut season in the second-tier paved the way for a move back to the Premier League with newly-promoted Wolves in 2018. Traore once again struggled to deliver on his potential in the top-flight, starting just 8 PL games in 2018-19 and scoring just once in 36 appearances across all competitions (source – Transfermarkt).

However, he enjoyed a complete U-turn of fortunes at Molineux last term and showed massive improvement in terms of his end product.

The right-footed trickster went on to plunder an impressive 6 goals and 12 assists in 54 appearances across all competitions last season. Wolves finished 7th in the Premier League and made it to the quarter-final of the Europa League. He recently made his bow for the Spain national team.

Adama Traore would suit the Leeds style of play

It’s hard to explain what goes on through Marcelo Bielsa’s head at any given point of a game. Yet as you saw Leeds playing through the last few minutes at Old Trafford, you would hardly think that they are a side that are losing 2-6. It is their sheer level of intensity that has been one of their biggest assets this season.

However, Leeds simply don’t have the squad to pull that off every game. It may have been good enough for the Championship and yes, they did add players but it is clearly not enough.

One of the areas that needs strengthening is the wings. While Jack Harrison has done a decent job, Bielsa needs another winger who can provide the same effect on the other flank.

They are rightly looking at Adama Traore for that reason. The Wolves man is a dangerous blend of strength and speed, which makes him hard to catch and even harder to shrug off the ball. He has raised his output in front of goal to go with his bag of tricks.

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While this season may have been a bit of a slow one, he has been played less, possibly due to his contract dispute. Nonetheless, Traore remains a very effective winger who can suit Leeds’ all-out attacking approach. Leeds should keep monitoring the situation and try to sign him.