Tottenham Hotspur is reportedly in on pursuing Wolverhampton Wanderers right-winder Adama Traore. However, should the north London club land the 25-year-old, he might be seeing a different role under manager Antonio Conte.
According to The Athletic, the Italian tactician plans to convert Traore into a wing-back. The report suggests that Spurs are looking for a right-wing back that offers more in the final third than Emerson Royal presently does.
With no wing-backs available that feel fit what Tottenham wants, the idea will be to have Traore fill that position should they land him this month. Furthermore, Conte and company feel that Traore can be trained for this position.
The idea to have Traore be a wing-back would be similar to when Conte brought in Victor Moses to Chelsea in 2016-17. Moses was a winger before heading to Stamford Bridge but converted himself to the new role as the 52-year-old would win the Premier League that season.
Traore has 18 more months left on his contract and has yet to extend his contract, so this month would be the ideal time to sell rather than wait until the summer. The Spain international’s value is currently estimated at roughly £20-million
Didn’t Perisic play wingback for him too? The wingback in a 343 or 352 is pretty much what an old-school winger anyhow, especially if you have mobile outside centre backs.
I have no problem with him in the role per se, I just worry the delivery is going to be poor
Sounds like we’d end up with a wing back who can’t cross, or score, and also cant defend!
A bad one.
Trippier Aurier Tanganga home grown, Doherty, Royal ..How much..maybe the club should have gone for a decent wing back in the first place.
Conte does not like to play RBs and LBs as wingbacks ,his preferred lineups once he sets the team to his way of playing is always converting right and left midfield players as wingbacks.Moses ,ashley young,Antonio Candreva,Juan Caudrado were all converted to wingbacks.if you look at his time from Atalanta,juve,inter,chelsea, he always operated this way
Bergwijn has been more assists this season, though I get its not just 2 metrics a player can make an impact. But if we were looking for a winger to a rwb don’t we already have an option?
With 3 CBs and 2 CDMs in the 11 what we really need are wingers not wingbacks. Someone that can beat their man then deliver a good pass or shot. Traore can beat his guy but does he have any end product? Gil looked promising in this role in recent cameos.
For me everyone questions our current wingers’ abilities to cross but if you look closely the real issue is that there’s almost never anyone bar Harry and sometimes Sonny in the box to cross to.
I guess that’s where Conte’s coaching would come in? Emerson needs benching that’s for sure.
Seems a bit bizarre to buy a player solely to change him to a new position? I know Conte is capable of doing that, but why not just buy an already established RB? I suppose if the aim is to get rid of the useless Doherty in part exchange then I can see the point perhaps. Certainly Adama has the power and pace to trouble defences, and could also be switched around into midfield. But his stats are lousy, then so are Emerson’s.
We’d of done better in the long run to keep KWP, Trippier and more recently even Aurier who I think would have fitted into Conte’s system better than the sub standard Royal who seems a flop in the making.I see nothing in this player worthy of paying a penny tbh, let alone what Levy was skinned by Barca for. Shrewd businessman my arse!
Delivery is a paramount requirement for WB and none of ours have it consistently and neither does Traore.Without it playing WBs is pointless.I’m sure Conte knows this and it’s why a short term deal for Moses is not out of the question imho..
Personally i’d rather go for a proper wingback – someone with good delivery, but can still beat a player with a bit of pace (albeit not to Adama’s standard on the latter).
He’d be an interesting experiment as a wingback. His numbers are extraordinary on FBREF and match the eye test – his dribbling and carrying are among the best in Europe, but his end product is way way down.
I guess in that role you’d want him to beat his man, pull players to him, and pull the other mob out of shape. Not necessarily for a final ball himself, but to give it simply to others to exploit the space.
For me, the irony here is that Adama is not the person to play in that role.
Right Winger turned RWB? That makes sense – you’d expect it’s to use them for their crossing ability.
Adama’s final ball / crossing / delivery is awful though.