OPINION
It’s been a rough road for winger Adama Traore since becoming Wolverhampton Wanderers’ club record signing this past summer.
He has been a victim of the team’s success in some ways, as Nuno Espirito Santo has found a system that works and has stuck to it, but he hadn’t done enough this term to make any real headway into the manager’s plans.
That may have all changed on Saturday, though. The former Middlesbrough man delivered his finest performance yet in a gold shirt as he gave Cardiff City the runaround in his team’s comfortable 2-0 win at Molineux.
He was essentially unplayable from start to finish. Neil Warnock’s side had no answer for him and it was clear that he could do whatever he wanted out there.
His pace is absolutely frightening – it’s ludicrous really. He’s built like a middleweight boxer but moves like a 100m sprinter. He showcased that on Saturday as he embarked on several explosive runs that had the Cardiff defence panicking.
Ultimately the 23-year-old couldn’t find his way onto the scoresheet, but he did everything but put the ball in the back of the net. His passing was pretty poor but he was a huge threat offensively and he never gave the visitors a moment’s rest.
He is a different option for Nuno, someone who possesses raw speed and power as opposed to the guile and trickery of Diogo Jota, for example.
Traore hasn’t done enough so far to justify his big money fee – in fact he has been looking like something of a flop – but he showed that a turnaround might be on the cards with a terrific performance against Cardiff.