Former Wolves star Jackie McNamara has suggested that there is a lot more to come from Adama Traore if he can start making the right decisions to match his physical prowess.
The winger was a big money signing from Middlesbrough last summer but has so far failed to live up to expectation at Molineux with just one goal and three assists in his 35 appearances across all competitions.
Having started just eight Premier League games all season, McNamara insists that he has a good base to push on from when it comes to his pace and strength, but that he has got to learn quickly or face pushing manager Nuno Espirito Santo past the point of no return.
He told Football Insider: “Maybe he’s had a fall out because he’s not played as much as he wanted and obviously the manager makes decisions, the manager is always right when it comes to that. Traore may be frustrating him with the amount of times he’s through and he’s not passed it across or he’s not given somebody else a tap in.
“He’s quick, powerful – obviously he has a lot to improve on with his decision making in the final third and I think that obviously his downfall because he has got something that you can’t teach in pace and power. What he’s got in his armoury, if he has the other bits there then he takes it to another level. It’s whether or not he can do that.”
Opinion
At the moment Traore is an athlete first and a footballer second. We have seen plenty of players threaten to do great things with their physical abilities only to let the fans down when they are found out to have a lack of quality or smarts. That does not mean they cannot be coached into good players though. You just have to look at Tottenham’s Moussa Sissoko to see what a good manager can do to a player who has the physical capabilities. The Frenchman was a specimen of an athlete – strong, powerful and fast – but was caught out time and again due to his lack of awareness. Mauricio Pochettino has turned him into a quality footballer who has been crucial to Tottenham and Traore can do the same at Wolves. At just 23, he has plenty of time to develop but it will require Nuno and his coaching team to have patience and to work with him closely. Whether they are willing to work on him as a project remains to be seen but if they do, they will have a quality player at the end of it.