I am not a huge fan of Traore, and he should be nowhere near our starting XI, but in a world where we are allowed 5 subs a player with his attributes can be a 15 minute game changer. We need a couple of different options for when we can't break the low blocks that we will frequently come up against and there is no question that he can offer something different. As an impact sub last season Bergwijn won us 1 match, but those 3 points in isolation were the difference between champions league and europa. If signing a Traore (or a James) wins us just a few points it could prove pivotal. I do think that there are better options out there but if the price is right and Conte thinks that he can make a difference then I am in.
Like you say he’s no where near good enough for our starting XI. Which then means he becomes a bit part player. Bearing in mind how dreadful his final ball is and his Goal and assists stats to date, what’s to say he’ll even produce anything during those precious minutes that he does get? Players need minutes and often consecutive games to find some sort of rhythm and gain confidence. Traore has had that in the past and was still distinctly average-poor. I only see that getting worse if he’s used sporadically. We need someone who’s got much more to their game, rather than some bloke who’s famous for covering himself in baby oil, and for having larger muscles than the average footballer.
Traore is bizarre, as he terrifies defenders - yet goalkeepers don't really have much of an opinion of him
Cannot see the point in him , his final ball is woeful as is his finishing , we need an attacking midfielder that can unlock the packed defence preferably one that can take a free kick without hitting the wall
This does make sense, if you look at the quality of our forwards. This is the area where we can compete with anyone, so the idea is to get the ball to them as much as possible. Conte's method is to use the wings (a nicely old fashioned idea) so having a bulldozer on one of the wings and a rapier on the other does give the opposition some problems.
Realistically what we need is someone who can draw players away from Sonny on the left, and going for a pacey RW does make a lot of sense - but so would somebody through the middle who can break the lines on their own
If Traore is a "rough diamond" , then why have neither Pep the false messiah nor Klipperty Klopp taken up the challenge ?? Are they not at worst peer comparable with Conte as coaches ?? Are their clubs not capable of bearing the transfer/wage costs ??
You can miss your slippers? Well let's all give a round of applause to the guy with the high water pressure. The rest of us will have to carry on squelching as we walk.
It’s gonna get to a point where teams won’t even bother marking or going to tackle him. They’ll just let him run down the wing, hit a “cross” and then immediately begin their counter attack. Sold by Barca after a handful of appearances. Done nothing with Villa. Done nothing with Boro. Done nothing with Wolves. Got a loan back to Barca and yep… Done nothing. Back at Wolves where now and before his Barca loan, he’s been a squad player, doing nothing. But he’ll come to Spurs, help out Son and Kane whilst breaking down defences. Hmmmmmmmmm.
On the other hand, he might cheer up the MouAnon members of our fanbase when they see our passmaps look exactly like they did when Aurier was roaming our right flank...
I’m not a raving Traore fan, but this line of questioning quizzes me when fans ask. Weird way to qualify a player. Like not going for a woman you like because your peers haven’t had a go. Weird, and a little spineless. If Conte has a plan for the player, and it works, that’s all that matters. No big rival managers came in for Davies, Palacios, Dembele or Lennon for example. Yet they did great work for the managers they served. Even if I don’t get it, which is the case with many players that we are linked with, in Conte I trust. Personally, give Gil a go instead of signing James or Gordon, but if Conte sees something I don’t, which I hope he would seeing as he’s the actual manager, then so be it.
Spot on. Finally, we've got a really top notch DoF, a world class Coach we could scarcely believe would work for us and a decent budget to get competitive again... ...and we're still not a happy supporter base? We don't deserve to be successful...
Davies was 21 when he joined us Palacios was 25 Dembele was 25 Lennon was 18 Traore is 26 Whereas I agree, it's not an age issue why I don't think we should sign him, I am highlighting their ages as two of your examples were not interesting big rival managers as they were still very young.
Wrong, on so many dimensions. 1. Is the player a "rough diamond" , or not ?? 2. If so, will the "polished" end product be good enough to serve the needs of the clubs who are currently better than Spurs (starting XI, squad member) ?? 3. If so, can Spurs afford the costs if the better clubs decline and take on the task and it does not work out ?? For Traore, I contend that the answers to all the above is no, The key difference is that I have "gobsh*te privilege" : if I say "yes" to the all of the above and the club also does, then if it goes NDombele 2, ir has not cost me a single penny,
It's been widely reported that we don't sign anyone without Conte's say so. Even Spence, who was 'a club pick', had to be ok'd by Conte. He said that he was fine with some signings not being for the here and now...as long as he had the final say. The days of Levy and Hitchen buying Joe Rodon on TDD are over. If any rubber bones are purchased, it's because the dog fancies one.
We’ve agreed a deal for Sheffied Utd’s young striker, Will Lankshear. £2m deal, 17 year old, was formerly of Arsenal’s academy. Winks is also close to joining Sampdoria on loan.
