Despite the arrival of Donny van de Beek along with the last-ditch additions of Edinson Cavani and Alex Telles, Manchester United‘s summer transfer window was largely disappointing.
Their frantic trolley dash also carted Facundo Pellistri through Old Trafford’s entrance before the window slammed shut. But perhaps the real silver-lining of their stormy deadline day dealings won’t arrive in Manchester until January.
Work permit issues see Amad Traore remain with Atalanta for another three months but the explosive 18-year-old promises to be worth the wait, and his potential €45m fee.
Here, we analyse the exciting talent and, using wyscout‘s extensive database, highlight what makes him so special.
PRODUCTION
The foremost concern with any young talent with little to no first team experience is efficiency. Traore is far from the finished article but even in this raw state, he’s put up some hugely impressive numbers for the Under-19s.
In 46 games, he’s managed 28 goal involvements with 13 goals and 15 assists. That’s a superb return from a diminutive winger playing a couple of years above his age group.
More encouragingly, he’s even proved his mettle in the first team when afforded the opportunity. He made his debut off the bench against Udinese last season and scored the final goal in a 7-1 mauling.
He cut inside from the right and drilled a low-effort in off the near post from the edge of the area, boasting speed, confidence and a fierce shot all in that one action.
When he receives possession he’s immediately aware that he has the defender isolated and wastes no time, running at him with purpose.
With so many forward runners in support, he has a free run at the Udinese defender who has no option but to back peddle while his attention to the runner on the outside leaves space through the middle.
Traore readily exploits the gap, dropping his shoulder and creating the angle for a stinging shot into the bottom corner at the near post.
Unfortunately, he’s hardly featured for the first team, making only three substitute appearances so far, but that’s largely a result of their preferred system that excludes natural wingers.
DRIBBLING
Traore’s ability to go past players is his forte and the aspect of his game that immediately stands out. He attempts over nine dribbles per 90 minutes and enjoys a success rate of 53.8 per cent.
His close control is phenomenal and nicely complemented by stunning bursts of pace. What sets him apart though is his unpredictability. He has the X-factor that makes the best dribblers in the game so difficult to read and guard against.
There are numerous clips of the 18-year-old leaving defenders for dead but this one example against Milan’s U19s perfectly encapsulates Traore’s dribbling and goal threat. First, he steals a march on his marker, runs onto a pass and bursts into the penalty area at pace.
Then, seemingly trapped in a collapsing pocket of three defenders, he shows great balance at speed to spin away from two of them.
Squaring up against the third defender, he swiftly changes direction with a shimmy inside.
The move creates enough space for him to get a shot away which is arrowed into the bottom corner on the near side.
PLAYMAKING
While dribbling is his most eye-catching attribute, Traore’s vision and intelligence is what will take him the farthest at the highest level. He averages 0.33 assists, 3.47 passes in the final third and 4.28 passes into the penalty box per 90 minutes.
In among all the step-overs and pirouettes, he manages to keep his bearings, often resulting in an end product.
Here, he’s surrounded by white shirts and in danger of being crowded out.
However, he spins away from the pressure cleverly before bursting into space down the outside. This is also the only point at which he may have noticed his team-mate’s position in his peripheral vision.
Once he reaches the byline though, he senses his team-mate’s position and sets him up for the goal with a smart back-heel.
It helps that Traore’s passing in the final third is exceptional as well. Against Fiorentina’s U19s, he drifts centrally and aims for a difficult lobbed pass over the defence.
The weight on the pass and its trajectory is exquisite, leading to a fine headed goal.
Attacking Torino’s U19s during a transition, the simple pass is through the middle into the feet of the striker or a reverse ball down the outside for him to run onto. But he recognises that the runner arriving late on the far side has more space if he can pick him out.
He does that with aplomb, dinking the ball over the defence and far enough from the keeper off his line for his team-mate to head home.
CONSTANT THREAT
One of the best things about Traore is that he’s a handful. A winger who averages 3.44 shots and 5.68 touches in the box per 90 minutes forces defences to pay extra attention to him, thereby creating space for others. For a team like United who can struggle to carve open the opposition at times, this is an appealing facet of the Ivorian’s game.
A big part of that is Traore’s ability to read play early and make darting runs from out to in. In this example, his team-mate does well to win possession in a dangerous area and he immediately runs off the full-back and into the space behind the defence.
He’s found with a clever dinked pass and proceeds to volley it home emphatically.
Against Napoli’s U19s, the centre-back is drawn in by the man on the ball and Traore’s instinct is to use his pace to exploit the space left behind him as the ball is being laid off to a midfielder.
His run is duly picked out and he takes one touch before firing a shot past the keeper.
The best players are capable of producing a moment of magic out of very little and on this occasion a clearance falls to Traore on the edge of the box. He absolutely kills it with a sublime first touch before showing excellent quick feet to drag it away from an opponent.
He unleashes a fierce shot with his left foot that leaves the keeper helpless but it crashes off the woodwork.
DEFENSIVE CONTRIBUTION
Traore is also a bundle of energy and doesn’t need to have the ball at his feet to stay motivated. The youngster shows a willingness to put in the hard yards when defending too, producing 4.46 recoveries and 2.15 interceptions per 90.
Impressively, he also averages nearly seven defensive duels per 90, coming out on top 58.6 per cent of the time.
In this instance, Traore is only just entering the frame and has a lot of ground to make up to close down the Juventus U19 player receiving possession.
He uses his explosive pace to get there though and pounces on a slightly loose touch to pinch the ball and launch a dangerous counter-attack.
WEAKNESSES
Given his slight frame, you’d expect Traore to struggle with the physical aspect of the game and you’d be right. At only 5ft 9in, he attempts less than a single aerial duel per 90 and is only successful 23.3 per cent of the time.
He also loses the ball 11.87 times per 90 minutes but that stat is a little misleading as it also counts shots saved or off target as well as inaccurate crosses. To put it into perspective, Mohamed Salah averages 10.77 possession losses over his career while Marcus Rashford, Neymar and Ansu Fati average 10.59, 16.51 and 11.15 respectively.
Traore has been brushed off the ball at times but not very often. Also, there are signs that, in time, he’ll learn to hold his own by using his low centre of gravity to his advantage and improve his upper body strength. Players like Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero and Eden Hazard are good examples for him to follow.
In the below instance, Traore is squared up against a much larger opponent but he draws him in and sets off on a sprint race towards the by-line, shoulder-to-shoulder.
He tussles with the defender throughout and briefly even appears to be fighting a losing battle. But he stoops down into his opponent and puts his body between him and the ball to regain the advantage.
Finally, he creates enough separation when he reaches the byline and even has the vision and awareness to square the ball for a team-mate to tap into an empty net.
That said, the Premier League is a different kettle of fish and he is bound to come up against far more formidable defenders.
VERDICT
United fans should be very excited. They may only be treated to glimpses of Traore’s potential this season but the Red Devils seem to have a world class talent on their hands. If he’s able to emulate Mason Greenwood’s progression, then there’s no reason why he won’t develop into a star at Old Trafford.
