Adama Traore: The Premier League's phenom ready to delay Liverpool's title push
The main criticism of Adama Traore in the past had been a lack of end product. The Spaniard routinely had the beating of opponents, yet failed to create the chance or put the ball in the back of the net to fully maximise his dribbling ability. Indeed, Traore threatened to develop into a 'what if' player, even accounting for a superb final Championship season.
The winger earned the WhoScored Championship player of the season award in 2017/18, returning a fine rating of 7.80. Five goals and 10 assists prompted Wolves to pay Boro £18m to take him from the Riverside to Molineux. It seemed a gamble for a player who'd only previously registered two assists in England's top tier and even in his debut campaign under Nuno Espirito Santo, he mustered just one goal and one assist.
Santo perhaps looked to temper expectations in his debut campaign in the Midlands, such was the furore surrounding the dribble sensation's return to the top-flight as Traore totalled just 896 minutes of Premier League action. "He said to me to trust the process, and that if I work hard with everyone, we'll get where we want to get," Traore said earlier this month on Santo and trust upon his arrival.
Many players may have voiced their concern at a lack of game time, but Traore has worked hard to develop his game and that is paying off. This season, the Spaniard has four goals and six assists to his name after providing for Pedro Neto and Raul Jimenez at St. Mary's as Wolves came from behind to beat Southampton last weekend.
He is still as electrifying down the flanks as ever, too, having completed more dribbles (126) than any other player in Europe's top five leagues this season. That return is more than Bundesliga pair Freiburg (123) and Augsburg (112). Having found the back of the net against Tottenham and Manchester City this season, and with one of his six assists coming against the latter, the hope for Wolves, and City fans, is that he can replicate his big game contribution against Liverpool on Thursday night.
The Reds have been nigh-on perfect in the Premier League this season having dropped just two points and they have a 13-point lead at the top of the table with two games in hand. As they continue their ascension towards Premier League glory, it'll take a huge effort from opponents to stop the Merseyside powerhouse.
They sampled Traore's exceptional dribbling capability when the two teams met at Anfield last month, where a Sadio Mane goal was enough to secure all the spoils in a 1-0 win. Traore came on with 32 minutes to play, and yet no player completed more dribbles than the 23-year-old (6) as he managed to get the better of the Reds with all but two of his dribble attempts.
Given the importance of the full-backs in Liverpool's system, with Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson given licence to maraud up field on a whim, Traore is more than capable of exploiting the space left behind either player depending on which wing he starts on. Considering Liverpool's sole weakness happens to be 'stopping opponents from creating chances', Traore's refined end product promises to pose Liverpool problems at Molineux.
Arguably stronger than any other player in the Premier League, if there is space beyond the full-backs, Traore simply has to knock the ball forward, brush off any challenge and charge upfield to present Wolves with a goalscoring opportunity. Given his impact from the bench in the reverse fixture, the Midlands powerhouse will be looking to Traore to keep Liverpool pegged back at Molineux and possibly extinguish any hopes Liverpool have of an unbeaten season.
