Premier League giants Spurs are reportedly keen on Adama Traore, who has 10 Championship assists for Boro in 2017/18.
Aston Villa will contest the Championship play-off final against Fulham next week after Middlesbrough failed to score in 180 minutes of tense action against Steve Bruce’s side.
And, for that, Adama Traore must shoulder a large portion of the blame. The rapid winger went into the semi-final tie as Boro’s danger-man after a stellar breakthrough season, in which he scored five, assisted 10 and looked to be fulfilling some of the potential that saw him labelled a future star during his time with Barcelona.
But Traore’s performance at Villa Park in the second leg on Tuesday night was disappointing to say the least – meaning a £30million move to Tottenham would be a huge surprise, with the Northern Echo recently reporting Spurs’ interest in the flying winger.
Traore was simply dreadful as Boro failed to overturn the one goal deficit from the first leg, succeeding with just two of his eight crosses and managing a pass completion rate of just 50 per cent.
It is in his nature to be a risk taker of course but it cannot be overstated just how poor his final product was, from simple crosses ballooning out of play to wild shots and the decision making of an amateur Sunday league footballer.
If Spurs chairman Daniel Levy had tuned in, he could probably think of infinite better ways to spend £30 million, because on this evidence, Traore has a long way to go before he can be considered a player worthy of Tottenham.
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