Lionel Messi is perhaps the best footballer to ever walk the planet and Aston Villa may well have had the new version of the great Argentine once upon a time. Fancy that, eh?
Scoring 737 times at club level with 109 goals for his country, and winning eight Ballon d’Or trophies, he was pretty damn good. The Barcelona legend finally won the World Cup with Argentina in 2022, with many marking this occasion as the moment he became the undisputed best of all time.
With such high-profile names, many young players coming through the pipeline at the same club get bundled with expectation to become “the next” version of that player, which often hurts their progression, and puts an unfair pressure on young shoulders.
This has happened to many Premier League youngsters in recent years, with Charly Musonda at Chelsea, Adnan Januzaj at Manchester United, and even Rhian Brewster at Liverpool.
However, there’s one example who played at Villa Park many moons ago…
The early years of Adama Traore
Adama Traore is another player that suffered from this early labeling as “the next Messi”, being at Barcelona.
The 20-year-old (at the time) was compared to Messi when coming through the Barcelona ranks, and was told he was “the fastest in the club”.
First Impressions
What did pundits and fans alike think about their new star signing when they arrived? Football FanCast's 'First Impressions' series has everything you need.
The “speed king” as he was dubbed by the Daily Mail, showed huge promise at a young age, beating players at his own peril. However, the end product had to improve to take a step forward, as Traore made the move from Barcelona to Aston Villa aged 20, for a reported £7m fee.
The winger only managed 12 appearances for the Villans’ first team, scoring once and assisting once in his 262 minutes played.
After not only being at the club for a year, the Spanish winger made the switch to Middlesbrough, joining them for around €8.25m (£7m), which is less than Villa bought him for just one year prior.
Adama's Traore's numbers since leaving Villa
Since leaving Villa back in 2016, Traore’s main problem has always remained, he has all the ability and physical traits to beat his man and get into dangerous areas, but the decision-making and final product continue to lack quality.
Traore has played for several clubs since leaving Villa Park behind, enjoying a two-year stay with Middlesbrough, before moving to Wolves, where he found a home for five years, making 194 appearances, scoring 14 goals and providing 18 assists.
15/16
1
1
16/17
0
1
17/18
5
12
18/19
1
3
19/20
6
12
20/21
3
2
21/22
1
4
22/23
3
1
23/24
2
3
The 28-year-old also spent a short loan spell on loan with Barcelona during 2022, returning to his ex-club, before leaving Wolves permanently in 2023, to join Fulham on a free transfer.
As you can see from the stats, Traore always struggled to put up consistent goal/assist numbers, only achieving 10+ in two seasons, the highest after that being five G/A in multiple seasons (20/21, 21/22, 23/24). His best season came for Wolves in 19/20, scoring six goals and providing 12 assists in 3,838 minutes.
Looking at the career Traore went on to have, Villa won’t be too disappointed about their decision to sell him, but there will always be a huge “what if” factor around the rapid winger, if he could have added extra quality to his end product, to match that frightening build and speed.
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1 ByJoe NuttallSep 26, 2024