{"id":47611,"date":"2021-01-26T05:29:10","date_gmt":"2021-01-25T18:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/astonvilla.co.uk\/bertrand-traore-excelling-at-aston-villa\/"},"modified":"2021-02-03T07:05:18","modified_gmt":"2021-02-02T20:05:18","slug":"bertrand-traore-excelling-at-aston-villa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/astonvilla.co.uk\/bertrand-traore-excelling-at-aston-villa\/","title":{"rendered":"Bertrand Traor\u00e9 excelling at Aston Villa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aston Villa have been lauded for an attacking brand of football, a watertight defence and indeed effective player recruitment \u2013 with every passing week we learn more about Dean Smith\u2019s intriguing side<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Little more needs to be said about Villa\u2019s miraculous turnaround, from relegation certs to European hopefuls within the space of six months speaks volumes in itself. The finer details behind the club\u2019s revival \u2013 and there\u2019s no shortage of them \u2013 are revealing if not enthralling.<\/p>\n

While Smith was trusted to recruit Ollie Watkins<\/a> \u2013 his tried and trusted number nine from his days at Brentford \u2013 an attaching partner, as it were, was touted to be Callum Wilson, before links to Joshua King surfaced.<\/p>\n

Behind the scenes, Villa are quickly becoming a more forward-thinking Premier League club with a long-term, thorough blueprint in place. Whilst only time will tell if Lange can replicate his youth recruitment successes or if Mackenzie can scout the next N\u2019Golo Kant\u00e9, Riyad Mahrez or Son Heung-min, Villa are certainly investing in the right areas, and on the right profile of players in the market.<\/p>\n

Morgan Sanson will soon be unveiled<\/a> as the latest rough diamond to come out of the French Ligue 1 and into the English top-flight, but not before Bertrand Traor\u00e9. Villa\u2019s eccentric, maverick-like winger is some talent, a savvy alternative to recycled Premier League stars.<\/p>\n

Having become the fastest scorer of a debut goal since Milan Baros in 15 years, Traor\u00e9\u2019s sensational right-footed volley gave Villa fans a sign of what was to come\u2026 and since, exquisite touches to beat Kevin De Bruyne, a goal at Old Trafford and that sublime, sweeping finish at The Hawthorns have come off \u2013 he\u2019s already had his moments.<\/p>\n

Traor\u00e9\u2019s recent strike to double Villa\u2019s first-half advantage against Newcastle would have been one to behold from that of a Holte End view \u2013 if only 40,000 Villans were able to welcome their mesmerising winger in proper fashion. Crashing the ball in off the crossbar, Traor\u00e9\u2019s right foot isn\u2019t nearly quite as bad as what Lyon fans would lead you to believe.<\/p>\n

Despite playing out of his skin for Burkina Faso in the frequent international breaks that disrupted the start of the Premier League season, it wasn\u2019t until Trezeguet \u2013 who was making the right-wing spot his own \u2013 suffered a head injury, before also picking up a hamstring issue that forced him out of the Villa side before a busy festive schedule.<\/p>\n

\"Traor\u00e9<\/p>\n

Villa\u2019s 1-0 win over Wolves<\/a> continued a fine run of away results at the start of the season, which included wins over Fulham, Leicester and Arsenal, and even a 0-3 win over another West Midlands rival, West Bromwich Albion. But it wasn\u2019t until the mauling of the Baggies, on Sam Allardyce\u2019s first game in charge, that Traor\u00e9 really announced himself to the Villa faithful.<\/p>\n

Villa\u2019s 27 efforts at goal against Burnley remains a joint league-high for shots in a single game this Premier League season. Traor\u00e9 might have squandered the best of those chances on the night, but after a succession of Premier League games under his belt, against Wolves and Sean Dyche\u2019s side, the winger was able to get back up to speed and start impacting games for Villa.<\/p>\n

At The Hawthorns, Bertrand Traor\u00e9<\/a> started with Cash returning to his familiar right-back birth \u2013 a partnership that had started to flourish at Wolves, all before Villa enacted a second derby day victory with the same right-sided partnership catching the eye again.<\/p>\n

Smith\u2019s side are forming partnerships in every department across the pitch even if enforced alterations threatened to tarnish a fine start to the Premier League campaign.<\/p>\n

As Grealish strung together eight key chances in the win at West Brom in December, Traor\u00e9 played a crucial role in chance creation and indeed, since then, he\u2019s chipped in with his fair share of goals \u2013 his movement, combination play and strike against Newcastle will be hard to top.<\/p>\n

Competition for places at Aston Villa breeding excellent performances<\/h3>\n

\u201cWhen Trezeguet got injured, people sniff opportunity,\u201d Smith said, after handing Traor\u00e9 his first start against Wolves in December<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve all been training well as a group. Credit to the players who are not playing as much. Their training has been superb \u2013 and they\u2019ve used that to go on and put in superb performances in like they have done.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a good test of the squad depth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having scored on his debut in the Carabao Cup at Bristol City in September after joining from Lyon for \u00a317 million, Traor\u00e9 had struggled for form and fitness before his first start for Villa in the Premier League.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I came, I wasn\u2019t fit enough. I worked hard with the staff to get my fitness back and then, unfortunately, I got injured in my first start,\u201d Traor\u00e9 told Villa TV.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to work hard to get back into the team, and now I\u2019m trying hard to do my best and make an impact on the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m getting there. I\u2019m getting fitter and fitter with each game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came here to give what I can bring to the team, to grow up as a player and to learn. To get assists and score goals is part of my job here.<\/p>\n

\"Bertrand<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the perfect night for the team. I\u2019m happy to score my first goal for Aston Villa in the Premier League, but the most important thing was the three points.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before Traor\u00e9 joined Villa in the summer, he\u2019d previously played alongside John Terry at Chelsea, Marvelous Nakamba at Dutch side Vitesse and Anwar El Ghazi at Ajax.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very happy to join Aston Villa,\u201d he told VillaTV in his first interview.<\/p>\n

Traor\u00e9 added: \u201cI played with JT at Chelsea, I spoke to him. I spoke to the manager, spoke with the Sporting Director as well and some players I used to play with \u2013 Nakamba and El Ghazi.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Nakamba, I talked to him about the club a little bit \u2013 many things made me take the decision to come here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Traor\u00e9\u2019s pedigree in the game is clear to see, with experience playing at the top level in the Netherlands, England and France, as well as having experience at Champions League level.
\nVilla manager, Smith, said after signing Traor\u00e9: \u201cWe\u2019re delighted that Bertrand has chosen to come to Villa.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a player with immense talent, who will really enhance our attacking options.\u201d<\/p>\n

Competition for places will count in Villa\u2019s favour over the course of a season like none other, one that\u2019s up for grabs for whoever stakes a claim to achieving their lofty ambitions.<\/p>\n

While Villa boss, Smith has been keen to dampen this season\u2019s expectations, with talk of finishing within the European places on the cards, in fact, Villa\u2019s squad is well stocked with such a calibre of player.<\/p>\n

Traor\u00e9, like the incoming Sanson, have both started recent Europa League finals. Traor\u00e9 scored nine goals in 24 league outings for Ajax under manager, Peter Bosz, and was part of the team that reached the Europa League final in 2016-17, losing to Mourinho\u2019s Manchester United<\/a> at the Friends Arena in Sweden.<\/p>\n

\"Traore<\/p>\n

Traor\u00e9\u2019s goals and performances in the Europa League were crucial to Ajax\u2019s run in the competition. He scored four goals in the 2016\/17 tournament, including two goals in the first leg of the semi-final against his future club, Lyon.<\/p>\n

Villa\u2019s fourth signing of the summer window even capped an impressive stint at the Amsterdam ArenA by featuring in the UEFA Europa League Squad of the Season: 2016\/17. Many even suggested Traor\u00e9 was Ajax\u2019s \u2018most potent threat\u2019 in the final.<\/p>\n

The winger contributed to 41 goals in 91 appearances in all competitions over the 2016\/17 and 2017\/18 campaigns, including 29 goals coming in off the right flank. His final season in France, however, met a sharp decline following Rudi Garci\u00e1\u2019s tactical alterations as Lyon boss last season.<\/p>\n

Lyon reverted to a wing-back system that, while producing a Champions League semi-final appearance last season, saw Lyon finish 7th in Ligue 1 \u2013 that to the detriment of Traor\u00e9\u2019s performances.<\/p>\n

Throughout his three year stay in France, Traor\u00e9 formed formidable front-three partnerships with forwards Mariano D\u00edaz, Memphis Depay and more recently Maxwell Cornet and the exciting Rayan Cherki.<\/p>\n

In the 2018\/19 season, Traor\u00e9 was the highest in Ligue 1 for \u2018goal-creating actions\u2019 (a pass, dribble or drawing fouls) with 0.64 per game. Last season for the French side, he touched the ball 816 times, with 401 being inside the attacking third.<\/p>\n

Once tipped for big things by Jose Mourinho as a youth player at Chelsea, Traor\u00e9\u2019s career up until now has had its fair share of highs and lows, but Villa\u2019s man has found more consistency with maturity. He\u2019ll be a player Villa fans can hope to pay the admission fee for in the not too distant future.<\/p>\n

The post Bertrand Traor\u00e9 excelling at Aston Villa<\/a> appeared first on AVFC – Avillafan.com – Aston Villa Fansite, Blog, & Forum..<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Original Source: A Villa Fan<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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