French publication Foot Mercato recently published a report in which they shared the latest news regarding Lyon attacker Bertrand Traore, who has been linked with a move to Crystal Palace, as well as the Eagles’ Premier League rivals Fulham, Brighton and Hove Albion, Everton and Newcastle United.
This report states that Fulham have become the first English club to make an offer for the Burkina Faso international, while the Eagles ‘prefer to give themselves time’ with regard to actually making a move for Traore.
The former Chelsea player is said to be getting ‘pushed towards the exit’ by the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League semi-finalists. While they are yet to submit a bid, it is claimed that the Eagles ‘could take action if Wilfried Zaha leaves,’ with Eagles boss Roy Hodgson claiming earlier in the current transfer window that the 27-year-old “would relish a move” away from Selhurst Park.
While Fulham have allegedly gone one step further than Palace at present, by actually submitting a bid for the player, according to Foot Mercato, the French publication also claims that the Cottagers’ offer ‘is very far’ from Lyon’s €25m (£22.32m) asking price.
Would Traore be a good replacement for Zaha?
YES
NO
TIF Thoughts…
As per WhoScored, while Traore and Zaha took the same number of shots per game in their respective leagues last season (1.6), Traore completing 1.4 dribbles per game in the 2019/20 Ligue 1 season, which is fewer than Zaha’s tally (4.3) in the 2019/20 Premier League campaign.
Traore was also fouled just 0.8 times per game in the league last term, while Zaha was fouled 3.2 times per game during the 2019/20 Premier League campaign.
Both Traore and Zaha have predominantly played on the right-wing, indicating that Traore could potentially slot into the Ivorian’s place in the Palace squad, however, we feel that if he did join the Eagles, he would play a different role to the one that Zaha currently plays, based on his tendency to dribble less, and this may require an alteration in Hodgson’s tactics.
If this is something that the Palace manager would be willing to do, then we feel that Traore may be a viable replacement for the Ivorian, however, if Hodgson would prefer a more like-for-like replacement for Zaha, then we feel he may be better off looking at alternative targets.