There is a player that got all the likes last weekend after scoring a 93rd-minute winner. It’s Adama Traore – the new addition to Wolverhampton’s squad that stopped West Ham from getting their first point of the season.
Traore is known for his attractive style of play which can make people get off their seats. He was once called one of the best dribblers in the world and the 22-year-old has proved it on the pitch ever since.
People are wondering if it’s the right time for him to shine in the Premier League after failing to help his ex-team Middlesbrough get promoted. He came in as a sub against West Ham and helped the team get its first three points with a stoppage-time goal and proved that maybe he deserves more playing time and he could be pretty useful for his team.
The main question is: is he good enough to dribble Wolves away from relegation?
His dribbling majesty
Despite the young age of 22, the Spaniard has had a quite interesting career so far. Starting from Barcelona B, changing to Aston Villa then Middlesbrough, he managed to work with multiple managers and tons of different players, but the one he is most compared to is Lionel Messi. Don’t go too hard on him: it is obvious that they are both great dribblers and that is the thing that distinguished their style of play, which is recognisable worldwide.
It wasn’t the start that he dreamed of last season, being benched too often, but he became an important part of the team from January 2018 on, scoring 5 goals and providing 10 assists. But being in the same academy that produced Lionel Messi for a decade is enough to develop an amazing technical ability and become one of the best in what you’re doing. He has some astonishing stats to be looked at as nobody would believe he dribbled past his opponents a whole 267 times in Championship last season. I know it sounds ridiculous the facts speak for themselves. That is over 130 times more than any other player in the league. Eden Hazard completed more dribbles than anyone else in the Premier League, ahead of Wilfried Zaha and Leroy Sane in second and third respectively. He could not be compared to Hazard and Messi in any other occasion, but his physical strength and speed are ones to be jealous of. He can conquer every opponent and in terms of running, there is no other player that can go to the wing as fast as him. The record Wolves signing averaged 7.1 successful dribbles per game as did the world record signing Neymar for PSG.
He came
