Adama Traore - CONFIRMED

[UK Redsox]

Good job that Messi didn't grow up over here. They'd have soon drummed all that dribbling nonsense out if him

[Percy McCarthy]

Watched 30 seconds of his highlight reel.. he's better than anyone on our team.

The one criticism I would have from his clips, he looks a bit like the kid at school who is ten times better than everyone else and NEVER PASSES THE BLOODY BALL! Some of those dribbles are great and stupid/pointless in equal measure.

On the one I watched it was noticeable how unselfish he was, crossing to people in better positions when he could have gone for a worldly.

[OCD]

Watched 30 seconds of his highlight reel.. he's better than anyone on our team.

The one criticism I would have from his clips, he looks a bit like the kid at school who is ten times better than everyone else and NEVER PASSES THE BLOODY BALL! Some of those dribbles are great and stupid/pointless in equal measure.

That might just be immaturity and he is 19. With a bit more experience, he might learn when to pass and when to take someone on. That's probably why Barcelona aren't looking to keep him though. Their players that can take people on know when to pass too.

[onje_villa]

Watched 30 seconds of his highlight reel.. he's better than anyone on our team.

The one criticism I would have from his clips, he looks a bit like the kid at school who is ten times better than everyone else and NEVER PASSES THE BLOODY BALL! Some of those dribbles are great and stupid/pointless in equal measure.

Nobody moans when Messi does it!

Fair enough, though to be fair Messi does the odd "give and go"

[Villafirst]

On the Stoke Oafcake forum they reckon if they'd have signed Traore that they would "loan him to a club like Villa"! Getting a bit above their station aren't they??

[onje_villa]

Watched 30 seconds of his highlight reel.. he's better than anyone on our team.

The one criticism I would have from his clips, he looks a bit like the kid at school who is ten times better than everyone else and NEVER PASSES THE BLOODY BALL! Some of those dribbles are great and stupid/pointless in equal measure.

On the one I watched it was noticeable how unselfish he was, crossing to people in better positions when he could have gone for a worldly.

I think once he's at the byline he's a different animal, definitely great at providing assists from there but bloody hell he's gonna try and get there by himself!

[silhillvilla]

I know he's a bit unproven but I really hope he signs, a real flair player would put bums on seats

[onje_villa]

Watched 30 seconds of his highlight reel.. he's better than anyone on our team.

The one criticism I would have from his clips, he looks a bit like the kid at school who is ten times better than everyone else and NEVER PASSES THE BLOODY BALL! Some of those dribbles are great and stupid/pointless in equal measure.

That might just be immaturity and he is 19. With a bit more experience, he might learn when to pass and when to take someone on. That's probably why Barcelona aren't looking to keep him though. Their players that can take people on know when to pass too.

Yes I think it's what sets Barcelona's stars apart they are generally great team players despite being stupendously skilful to boot. Still Traore looks a brilliant prospect and look forward to seeing him on the pitch to prove me wrong!

[Dave]

That might just be immaturity and he is 19. With a bit more experience, he might learn when to pass and when to take someone on. That's probably why Barcelona aren't looking to keep him though.

Who says they're not looking to keep him? He's a reserve team player with a release clause in his contract (which by all accounts we're willing to meet), who doesn't want to play in the third tier next year but does want to play first-team football.

That doesn't mean that they want rid of him.

[Chris Jameson]

Don't know if we're all watching the same videos but I've seen quite a few clips of him tracking back and putting in some great tackles. Can he play right back?

[OCD]

That might just be immaturity and he is 19. With a bit more experience, he might learn when to pass and when to take someone on. That's probably why Barcelona aren't looking to keep him though.

Who says they're not looking to keep him? He's a reserve team player with a release clause in his contract (which by all accounts we're willing to meet), who doesn't want to play in the third tier next year but does want to play first-team football.

That doesn't mean that they want rid of him.

Fair enough, I've been playing catch up on this.

[paul_e]

Don't know if we're all watching the same videos but I've seen quite a few clips of him tracking back and putting in some great tackles. Can he play right back?

Apparently he was playing a fullback for his first few years before he moved onto the wing so i guess he probably could, him and Amavi either side would be the quickest pair of fullbacks ever by some way I reckon.

[ozzjim]

On the Stoke Oafcake forum they reckon if they'd have signed Traore that they would "loan him to a club like Villa"! Getting a bit above their station aren't they??

On twitter they think that once he lands in the UK they are going to hijack the deal as they are the bigger club.

I went to Stoke once, it is a hole.

[cdbearsfan]

I quite like Trentham Monkey Forest. That's near Stoke. Wouldn't recommend it to Traore though as, being Spanish, the Barbary Macaques would undoubtedly make him really angry by taunting him about Gibraltar's constitutional status.

[Ads]

Stoke have apparently finished 9th two seasons running. Can't say I noticed.