The former FC Barcelona winger arrived at the Riverside from Aston Villa in August.
Sky Sports‘ Spanish football expert Guillem Balague says he has doubts about Middlesbrough winger Adama Traore.
Traore was described as being ‘a bit of Messi and Ronaldo’ upon signing for Aston Villa from FC Barcelona in summer 2015 (Birmingham Mail).
However, the Spain Under-21 winger struggled to live up to his hype at Villa Park and left for Middlesbrough on deadline day, replacing the Villans-bound Albert Adomah.
Traore has played just nine minutes of football for Aitor Karanka’s side so far and Balague believes the youngster’s ability is being undermined by a lack of consistency.
“I like Karanka a lot,” Balague told a Sky Sports Q & A session on Friday, when asked if the Boro boss can get the best out of Traore. “You can tell he was a former player. He knows how to work with players, how to get the best out of them. And he is tactically flexible enough to reach the targets for the club.
“But I have my doubts about Traore and did say that when he first came to England. He has never been consistent enough and for too long he has used his pace as a weapon that paradoxically has stopped progressing other elements of his game.
“He was considered a top star too early and now he has to be humble enough to work hard and hope that intelligence and good guidance takes him to be a regular starter. I don’t see it just yet.”
A product of Barca’s fabled La Masia academy, Traore has played just 17 times for either of his three club’s first teams.
However, the 20-year-old, who is of Cameroonian descent, previously impressed in the Catalans’ B team, which played in Spain’s second tier at the time.
Traore is currently being kept out of Boro’s line up by fellow wide men Stewart Downing and Gaston Ramirez.
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