The Athletic’s Sam Delaney has been discussing how West Ham United could have signed Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Adama Traore when he was at Middlesbrough.
The Spanish winger was situated at the Riverside Stadium with the Boro for two years from 2016 to 2018 before he became a Wolves player for £18m (per Transfermarkt).
In his time with Middlesbrough, the now-24-year-old made 71 appearances in which he scored five goals and assisted 13 for teammates (per Transfermarkt).
However, in the latest episode of The Athletic’s U Irons Podcast, Delaney discussed how the winger could have been a Hammers player had things worked out differently.
He said: “We were linked with Traore for about three years when he was at Middlesbrough. The amount of times we were on the verge of signing him…
“I kept hearing: ‘Well, we’re looking at him but we’re not sure he’s quite good enough for the Premier League. He might be a bit-part player, maybe it’s not worth it.’
“I mean, he’s one of the most dangerous wingers there is, isn’t he? [It’s] just another classic example of West Ham.”
TIF Thoughts…
As can be seen in what the journalist had to say, it seems that the Hammers could have had the attacking ace on their books if they would have had more conviction in wanting to sign him.
Do you wish the Hammers had signed Adama Traore before Wolves did?Yes, he is brilliant
No, he's not good enough
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This season, Traore has been Wolves’ best-performing player in the league with a stellar 7.60/10 average rating (per WhoScored), so, it certainly seems like the Hammers made a mistake in not signing the Spaniard. To add to that, the Spaniard had a £70 million price tag slapped on him back in April.