In Barca's 4-2 win over Atletico Madrid, which ended not long ago, we remembered the old and strong Alves; we remembered the flying immortal Alba; we remembered the magnificent attack that was at the peak; of course, we also remembered the Traorre who repeatedly played highlights on the wing.
For some veteran Barca fans, Traoré is certainly not an unfamiliar name. Even ignoring his highlights at Wolves, some fans can still vaguely remember the Spanish winger's years with the Rossandre. Traoré was born on 25 January 1996 in Luspitalet de Llobregat, Spain, to parents both from Mali, Africa, and later moved to Barcelona, Spain.
When Traoré was 8 years old, he loved football and was favored by the Barcelona youth team and successfully entered the La Masia youth camp. In 2013, at the age of 17, Traoré was promoted to Barcelona B with a good performance in the academy and made his debut on 6 October of that year in a 1–0 away defeat to Pomferradina in La Liga.
Compared with today, Traoré has not yet shown such amazing skills, and he can get the recommendation of the coaches of the Barça academy more thanks to good foot skills and excellent field vision. As we all know, the criteria for selecting players in the La Masia Academy are more inclined to the traditional Barça football concept of passing skills, and the young Traoré has not yet honed his personal strength similar to the current outstanding, and his ability to stand out from many players is also due to his solid basic skills and dexterous foot skills.
However, at that time, Barça was in a prosperous period, the team's first team can be described as a superstar gathering, although Traore showed good potential in the academy and the B team, but it is still too difficult to get a foothold in the barca first team. Weighing the pros and cons, the Spanish winger decided to end his relationship with Barca early. On 14 August 2015, Premier League side Aston Villa spent €10 million to buy Traoré from Barcelona.
Just eight days later, the young winger made his debut against Crystal Palace, and just eight minutes after coming off the bench, he forced the Crystal Palace defender to score the ball with a beautiful cross from the flank. Just three days later, Traoré scored his debut goal in Aston Villa's 5-3 home win over Notts County in the second round of the League Cup.
Overall, however, Traore's first premier season in the Premier League was bright, but he was not yet fully accustomed to the intense pace of the Premier League, making just 11 appearances (only one start) for Aston Villa in all competitions, scoring one goal and one assist. At the end of the season, Aston Villa sold him to Middlesbrough, who is also in the Premier League, for a transfer fee of 8.2 million euros.
It can be said that at this time, Traoré was experiencing a small low point in his career - once a glorious resume in the first team of Barca proclaimed his outstanding football talent, but then the failure in the Premier League forced him to accept the fate of switching to his team. If you can't grasp this last opportunity, I am afraid that Traoré's career will plummet and eventually become a nobody.
In a time of crisis, Traoré seized his last chance. Although his poor ability to grasp opportunities has made him criticized by many fans, in the Championship, where the physical confrontation is no less intense than in the Premier League, Traoré has further strengthened his physical fitness, laying a solid foundation for the figure that can now be called "monster level". At the same time, in the Championship, which is more dependent on individual ability (joining Middlesbrough the following season, the team was relegated to the Championship), Traoré has developed a better personal breakthrough strength while focusing on team coordination, whether it is a strong breakthrough on the wing or a dexterous combination in the middle that can help the team's attack.
By the 17th and 18th seasons, the young Spanish winger was completely intimidated, washing up the embarrassing performance of 0 goals and 1 assist in 31 games last season, making 40 appearances for Middlesbrough in all competitions, scoring 5 goals but contributing as many as 13 assists. It is worth mentioning that Traore scored five goals and 10 assists during the Championship play-offs, so he also won the Middlesbrough Fan Player of the Year, Young Player of the Year and Player of the Year awards.
Traore's brilliant performance in seasons 17-18 saved his declining career, and on August 8, 2018, Wolves officially bought it for a transfer fee of 20 million euros. At that time, Wolves first arrived in the Premier League, the team urgently needed to add strong candidates on the offensive end, and although Traore's experience in the Premier League was not rich, his strong personal ability in the Championship was obvious to all. Wolves spent a lot of money to buy it, but also showed the determination to quickly establish themselves in the Premier League and seek better results.
In the 18th and 19th seasons, Traoré started 11 times for Wolves in all competitions, scoring 1 goal and 3 assists, and the overall performance was decent. Seasons 19 and 20 were a pivotal moment in the Spanish winger's transformation, with Traoré playing in 56 games, scoring six goals and completing 11 assists. In his 50th game for Wolves on 6 October 2019, Traoré scored his first goal in a 2–0 away win over defending champions Manchester City, and in a 3–3 draw with Braga in the Europa League group stage on 28 November, Traoré scored his first goal in Europe.
Overall, Traoré in the 19th to 20th season established his position in the Premier League's "passing world". Although Wolves have not sold him immediately since then, Traoré's ties to the major teams in the five major leagues have become increasingly close. In the next 20-21 seasons and 21-22 seasons, Traoré was an indispensable link in the team's attacking end, and its unreasonable side breakthrough and accurate bottom crosses were the key links for Wolves to achieve repeated highs in the league and even qualify for European competition.
Despite the delay in his goal scoring ability, Terraore has a very bright trait after all, which has also made Barca, which is in the mud, pay attention to him again. As we all know, due to the chaos within the management and the departure of many meritorious stars such as Messi, Barca this season has suffered unprecedented turmoil - the team's record has experienced a major decline, the managerial team and the main squad have undergone major changes. In this context, in order to quickly reverse the deadlock, the Red and Blue Army, which is experiencing financial difficulties, has no way to introduce superstars as large as in the past, and can only find some cheap "plug-and-play players" in major leagues.
Traore, who played in the Premier League but was not very expensive, entered the field of vision of the Rossandre. On 29 January 2022, Barcelona officially announced the introduction of Traoré from Wolves on loan, and the Spanish winger returned to camp Nou after many years. However, compared with that year, both Barcelona and Traoré have undergone earth-shaking changes - the glory of the Rosso-Rín has dimmed, and Traore has faded the youth of the year and become a star who can stand alone.
The first game with the team was faced by the powerful Atletico Madrid, which was both a challenge and an opportunity for Traoré. Despite not scoring goals, five attempts and a beautiful assist still made a good start to his red-and-blue career. Of course, looking at the reinforcements of Barça clubs in recent years, there are not a few players who have won the first game but have not been able to do a good job. Therefore, there are many more aspects to consider in Traoré.
【"Little Monster" by La Masia】
As mentioned earlier, Traoré debuted in the La Masia Academy, and this special resume must have determined that the Spanish winger has a good basic skill. However, compared with the vast majority of players produced by the La Masia Academy, Traoré's career has embarked on a diametrically opposite path - later he entered the Championship, gradually abandoned the gene of passing control in Spanish football, and grew into a "muscle monster" with excellent confrontation ability through targeted acquired tempering.
In the Championship, where physical confrontation is known throughout Europe, Traore is also an unstoppable "super tank" – his success rate in confrontation has reached 61%, the success rate of ground confrontation has reached 64%, and the success rate of air confrontation is slightly lower, only 39%. Even after coming to the Premier League, in the face of a number of the world's top defenders, Traoré's data on physical confrontation is not much to let go - in the 19-20 season, his success rate is 59%; the success rate of ground confrontation is 62%; and the success rate of air confrontation has also improved, reaching 46%.
I believe that many Manchester City fans still remember the footage of Traoré's bottom line stealing Mendy to complete the assist. As shown in the picture above, in the face of Mendy, who tried to protect the ball out of bounds, Traore made full use of his physical advantages at key moments, knocked Mendy away to steal the ball, and then completed a precise cross before the Manchester City defenders were in place, assisting his teammates to break through the Blue Moon goal. The credit for this goal is undoubtedly due to Traoré's steals on the wing, and this set of steals is due to his strong physical confrontation ability.
If many fans think that Mendy is not enough to be a testament to Traoré's physical ability to fight, then Traoré's 1-on-1 match with Van Dijk may surprise you.
As shown in the picture above, in the face of the world's no. 1 centre-back, who once claimed to be "unbreakable", Traore still completed the steal and sent a precise cross through physical confrontation in the background environment where Van Dijk completely protected the ball. If it weren't for south Korean star Hwang Hee-chan in the middle, the physical confrontation would have been slightly inferior, perhaps Wolves could rely on Traoré's steals to break the Reds goal. You know, although Van Dijk's state has declined after his return from injury, he is still the premier top center-back in world football at the moment, and his one-on-one defensive state of ball protection ability and game awareness have caused countless forwards headaches.
Traore's assist against Southampton in seasons 19-20 showed his strong physical resistance to the fullest. As shown in the GIF above, in the midfield area, Traoré leans on the opposing defender like a column center to unload the ball and then use the speed advantage to complete the insertion; after receiving the ball, Traoré used his body to control the ball under the 2-3 people's bag, and then deftly completed the cross and assisted his teammates to break the goal.
【Passing machine Traore, the key puzzle of Barca's offensive system】
More striking than physical confrontation is his unreasonable ability to break through. The physical confrontation ability honed by the Championship experience in those years, combined with the dexterous foot technology and excellent instantaneous explosive ability, finally combined into a strong breakthrough ability on the offensive end.
Unlike wingers like Neymar, Traore's personal breakthrough technique, while equally excellent, rarely uses so-called fancy techniques, but more often uses his physical strengths, combined with the flexible changes of the ankles and the ability to burst instantaneously. This way of passing seems simple, but there are extremely strict requirements for physical fitness and coordination, and fans who have begun to pay attention to Traoré during the Championship should know that the Spanish winger once had a "lot of loopholes" in the breakthrough of the human end, the most obvious is the lack of coordination ability when breaking through, resulting in the instantaneous explosion of speed but often difficult to control the ball under the multi-person package.
After a season in Middlesbrough, Traoré gradually developed a personal tactical system that could withstand the blows of the wind and rain. After coming to the Premier League, considering that wolves' overall strength is not dominant, coupled with head coach Nuno's more emphasis on the use of defensive counterattacks, Traoré's personal strength has more use, and he plays a heavy role in Wolves' counterattack system to connect the midfield and break through the opponent's first defensive line.
Let's look at the above GIF, in the background environment of 1-on-1 facing opposing defenders, Traoré's ability to pass is fully reflected - even if the opposing defensive player is in a dominant position and the first time to jam Traore's forward route, Traoré only uses a sudden acceleration after a slam to easily break through the opponent's defense, and then faces the goalkeeper to play in the far corner. The goal was a microcosm of Traore's personal approach – avoiding too many fancy moves and maximizing his physical strengths.
Let's look at this picture again, facing the opposing defender, Traoré did not rush to move the ball to the bottom line at the first time, but stopped the ball. This operation seems to reduce the speed of the game, but in fact it is a manifestation of Traoré's extreme confidence in the speed of his own instantaneous explosion - in the face of defenders whose speed is far inferior to their own, if they blindly accelerate, they may lose their advantages, and the instantaneous explosion in the static state is Traoré's strength, and on this basis, there are almost no defenders who can compare with them. In this way, Traore only needs to use a simple acceleration after pedaling a bicycle to easily break through the opposing defender's defense and gain cross space.
From the data point of view, Traoré's dazzling play at the breakthrough end can be more intuitively reflected. In the 16th and 17th seasons, Middlesbrough performed badly in the league and was eventually relegated, but it could not hide the surprises brought by Traore. The Spaniard averaged a staggering 5 times per game in the league that season, well-deservedly topping all the players in the same position. In the 17th and 18th seasons, Traoré followed the team to the Championship, and his performance at the breakthrough end was further improved - the Spanish winger averaged a staggering 7.3 times per game, making him the well-deserved king of the league.
After returning to the Premier League, after a brief run-in in the early season, Traore began to show his outstanding strength in the 19th and 20th seasons - he averaged 5 times per game in the 19-20 season, and the total number of successful passes reached 183, ranking first in the English Super League by absolute advantage, 20 times ahead of the second place Zaha; in the 20-21 season, although the average number of passes per game fell (4.1 times), he could still rank first among all the players in the same position. More importantly, Traoré's total number of successful passes in the league has reached 152, and it should be noted that the total number of successful passes of St. Maximan in the 2nd place is only 96, which is a very obvious gap with Traoré.
Wolves have underperformed overall in the Premier League this season, but Traoré remains one of the highlights of the team's attacking end – he averaged four passes per game, ranking No. 1 of all players in his position. So far, Traore's total number of successful passes is 83, trailing Newcastle United's Saint Maximan in 2nd place by 8. Remember, Traore has only played 10 times for Wolves' starts this season, and his playing time is not among the major wingers.
His outstanding individual combat ability has allowed Traoré to stay in the Premier League against a backdrop of unimpressed goalscoring ability, and has grown into one of the league's top breakers in recent seasons. For Barca, there is no shortage of delicate footwork and good passing midfielders, and now they need a burst point that can contribute to personal play in the event of a stalemate, driving the team to have some tired side attack system. Of course, relying on the ability to break through alone is not enough to stand on a big team like Barca, and another reason why Traoré can make a name for himself in Wolves is his relatively good assist ability.
[In the side pass, Traore's best play]
Just breaking through, it is easy to go down the "lone wolf" route. Fortunately, after a short period of confusion, Traoré gradually found his true position on the field - different from the tactical concept of the current "winger to No. 9" in world football, Traoré's positioning on the field is more biased towards a pure winger. Both on the offensive and defensive ends, the Spanish star is more on the wing and does not seek too much incision, preferring to pull space on the wing through personal ability to completely cross.
This technical feature seems to be somewhat single, but there is plenty of room for play under the powerful breakthrough ability of Terraore who can be called unreasonable. Looking at Traore's experience with Wolves, most of his assists were made through a cross from the underside after a break from the wing. And in today's 4-2 win over Atletico Madrid in Barcelona, Traoré faced Spain international Hermoso and assisted Garvey with an almost identical out-of-the-box cross.
The sign of Traore's growing maturity on the flanks in recent seasons is his increasingly accurate cross-cutting footwork, which, combined with his sharp ability to break through, has often been able to control the ball under multiple pockets and contribute accurate crosses that can be called radar guidance. In wolves, which have always loved to defend and counterattack, Traore's acceleration advantage in the counterattack process and accurate cross footwork are often the magic weapons for the team to win with one hit, and the strong physical confrontation ability is the key link in the frontcourt counterattack. Perhaps there is still a lot of room for improvement in his ability to grasp opportunities, but in terms of the basic qualities of a winger, Traoré is undoubtedly the top in the world.
In the 19th and 20th seasons when Traore's personal data was the brightest, he completed a total of 9 assists in the league, and was the king of assists in Wolves, and could also rank second among all players in the same position. More critically, as a relatively "rough" "black and hard" player, Traore also honed a good view of the overall situation on the field and the ability to threaten the ball - he created 10 excellent scoring opportunities in the 19-20 season, ranking second in Wolves and 4th among all players in the same position; his average number of key passes per game also reached 1.3, which can rank 7th among all players in the same position.
You know, as Wolves' bridgehead on the counter-attack end, Traoré will not take too many balls in a single game - he averaged only 19.2 passes per game in 19-20 seasons, but contributed so many threatening ball passes in the context of a fairly limited number of passes, and his offensive efficiency can be seen.
Compared to Alves, a right-back who was racing up and down the right side with Messi, Traoré actually has something in common - both of them are at the top of the line in their peak moments, and they also have a rather amazing ability to break through. But compared to Alves, Traoré's weaknesses are also very obvious - lack of experience in the competition, not much selectivity in the cross, and lack of variability in the offensive process.
[During the critical period of tactical transformation, Harvey may show the way for Terraore]
No matter what period of world football, "one move to eat all over the sky" may exist, but it is definitely limited to a rare number of players. If you want to truly stand at the top stage, relying solely on pure speed advantage to break through people may be eye-catching, but it is definitely not a long-term solution. Once the physical fitness declines or suffers a major injury, the original magic weapon will lose its effectiveness and even become an obstacle to the player's search for new tactical ideas.
For Traoré, his sharp breakthroughs on the flanks are well known, but the unity of his offensive rules has also become an obstacle to his progress towards a first-class star. Traore's strengths are obvious – a sense of strength, balanced left and right foot abilities, and a very efficient breakthrough, but the disadvantages are also very obvious – the ability to shoot suddenly, the lack of variation in shooting, and the often falling into the strange circle of blind dribbling.
As shown in the image above, Traoré's shots are extremely powerful, often able to blast out unexpected world waves. At the same time, his left and right feet are balanced, and as long as they are properly adjusted, they can deliver high-quality long-range shots in all positions. But from another point of view, although Traore's foot ability is balanced, his shooting options are somewhat overly single - almost all of them are bursts of power, lacking the appropriate shooting changes in different states.
As shown in the picture above, in this season's Premier League match against Southampton, Traoré was given an empty goal in time, but in the face of a great empty opportunity, Traoré's choice was a bit of a surprise - he still "stubbornly" used a very risky volley, and finally this kick burst did not hit the goal, and Wolves missed a great chance to break the goal.
This problem has always existed in Traore's career and is a major obstacle to his rise to the ranks of first-class stars. Even in his most brilliant 19-20 seasons, the Spanish winger's chance grasp ability was only 33%, only to rank 10th among all players in the same position. During his time in Middlesbrough in the Championship, his chance grasp was only 50%, ranking 9th among all players in the same position.
Problems have dictated that although Traore can have a very bright breakthrough data every season, his performance in the final attack has always been unsatisfactory - so far, the Spanish winger has only scored five goals in a single season in the league, or during the 17-18 seasons of playing for Middlesbrough in the Championship. If the top flight is the standard, then Traoré's highest number of goals in a single season is only 4, which occurs in seasons 19-20.
Traore's problems with the final shot have not improved, but he has also adjusted himself - since joining Wolves, Traore has improved the tacit understanding with his teammates through targeted training. In other words, the Spanish winger no longer blindly dribbles crosses during the game, but will choose to take different changes such as the outside line or the inside line through the change of the situation, and even at some times can cut inside to the middle and complete some delicate small-range coordination with his midfield teammates.
As shown in the picture above, in this attack against Brighton, Traore did not choose to walk the outside line and cross the bottom as usual, but took the initiative to hold the ball and cut inside and form a collision with his teammates in the middle. Relying on this sudden change on the offensive end, Traoré and his teammates broke the small-scale containment of 3 to 5 players in Brighton, and finally knocked on the door of the Seagull Legion with a homeopathic shot.
In the league against Liverpool, Traoré opened a new chapter for the team's counterattack with his gradually improving ball quotient: the Spanish winger first withdrew deeply to help his teammates cut off Mane's ball, and then used the speed advantage to involve 2 or 3 Liverpool defenders. In this context, Traoré knew that the success rate of continuing to walk the outside line would not be too high, so he quietly changed his mind and used a precise long slash to transfer the ball to the feet of his teammates on the other side.
You know, forced by Traoré's strong breakthrough strength, even a top team like Liverpool will often place a large number of players on his right side so that they can be placed close to their defense at the first time of attack and defense. As a result, Traore's play on the offensive end may be limited, but it will also create more room for teammates on the other side to run without the ball. Once Traoré is able to subtly change his mind, no longer seeking blind dribbling, but actively forming a combination with his teammates through long passes, the team's counterattack will be more three-dimensional.
From another point of view, although Barca today is not a team that likes to fight back, for Traore, the increased sense of cooperation can undoubtedly give him a shot in the arm to better integrate into the team. You know, Barcelona coach Xavi is now the core of the midfield at the peak of the team, and one of the important slogans he put forward in this appointment is to bring the once gorgeous pass back to Barca. In other words, even if Traoré's breakthrough strength can bring great help to the team in a short period of time, if there is no way to help the team's passing, it will be difficult for him to stand on the team for a long time to come.
【Conclusion】
For Xavi, Traoré's arrival added a variety of offensive weapons to Barcelona. Although the stardom of today's Red and Blue Is far less than it was then, it has a group of experienced veterans and has also welcomed some talented young players. The 26-year-old is in the prime age of his career – he has both accumulated some experience in top-flight competitions and room for further improvement. Although the coach Xavi is not experienced, he has shown a good ability to guide points in the Qatar league, and if Traoré can integrate the requirements of the head coach, I believe that his technical characteristics will usher in further sublimation.
It's a long road, and everything is uncertain. Admittedly, Barça is in the midst of an unprecedented quagmire, but for Terraore, it's also a godsend for fame. Barca's stage is the envy of everyone, but most people have not yet had time to show themselves and leave the stage hastily. Once Traoré was also one of the "outcasts" of the Red and Blues, but now Barca's dilemma has given him the opportunity to be "reborn", whether he can lay the main position in the Camp Nou in one fell swoop, Traoré not only has to further develop the breakthrough skills he relies on to survive, but also know how to develop new skills and improve technical characteristics.