The Athletic’s Wolverhampton Wanderers correspondent Tim Spiers has recently made a claim regarding Spanish winger Adama Traore.
So far this season, the 24-year-old forward has started just three games in the top flight for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side (per WhoScored).
While Traore has come off the bench in Wolves’ other four Premier League games, he has played in every position up the right-hand side of the pitch and also up front (per Transfermarkt).
Over his seven outings, the Spaniard has delivered a 6.79/10 average rating which has made him the Old Gold’s tenth-best performer so far this term.
During the latest episode of The Athletic’s The Molineux View podcast, Spiers discussed Traore and made a claim regarding his lack of game time.
He said: “He’s far too an expensive a player to have on the bench, that’s how Jeff Shi will be looking at it, in my opinion.
“This guy’s worth at least £35m in theory, [I would say] he’s doubled his value since they bought him, at this moment in time.
“Does it look odd that they sold [Diogo] Jota in the summer and not Traore? Yes it does, to me, I think. Jota fits into this slightly rejigged system better, for me.
“Traore, you could argue, might have been at the peak of his value in the summer and the longer he doesn’t play, the more his value goes down.”
TIF Thoughts on what Tim Spiers said about Adama Traore…
As can be seen in what Tim Spiers said about Traore, he believes that the Old Gold may have made a mistake in selling Jota and not Traore during the recent transfer window.
Which player should Wolves have sold in the summer?
Traore
Jota
However, during the 2019/20 Premier League season, the Spaniard earned a stellar 7.49/10 average rating over 37 appearances whereas Jota earned a 6.76/10 rating over 34 outings (per WhoScored).
So, on the face of it, at the time, it appeared that Wolves had kept the stronger of the two players and it only looks to have been a mistake with hindsight.
So far this season, Jota has bagged seven goals in ten appearances in all competitions for Liverpool following his £40.23m move to Anfield, whereas Traore has no goals or assists in eight outings for Wolves, making it clear to see where Spiers is coming from with his claim.