White Hart Lane by Hzh, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Tottenham Hotspur aren’t short of forwards with Heung-min Son, Bryan Gil, Steven Bergwijn and Lucas Moura at their disposal, but Matt Law of the Telegraph reported last week that Adama Traore might be on Antonio Conte’s radar when the winter transfer window opens.
Law believes the 25-year-old still has interest from Spurs and reports from Spain earlier in December stated that Wolverhampton Wanderers lowered his asking price to €15m-€20m (£12.6m-£16.8m). Traore hasn’t been at his best this season, however, so Spurs should turn their attentions elsewhere.
The Spanish international joined Wolves from Middlesbrough in 2018 and has gone on to make 150 appearances in all competitions, scoring 10 goals with 18 assists. Traore has had one good season at Wolves where he scored four goals and made nine assists in 37 Premier League games (2019/20), but he’s been below par outside of that.
He bagged two goals with three assists from 37 league games last season and is without a goal or assist in the top-flight this campaign. So why would Tottenham make a move on a player that is proving to have no end product in the final third?
Traore has made 80 successful dribbles, whipped in 34 crosses, created 18 chances and had 21 shots, but he’s only found a teammate from nine balls into the box in 17 league games – averaging one every 113 minutes. And he’s only hit the target with four of his shots – averaging one every 252 minutes.
Although the 25-year-old has an affordable asking price and wages (£43k-per-week/£2.2m-a-year), there’s little value in signing Traore until his numbers improve. He’s an excellent dribbler in a one-on-one format, but his distribution isn’t creating goals.
The Spaniard has scored just two league goals in as many years while failing to make an assist in eight months, so Tottenham would be better off avoiding Traore.
