While Albert Adomah is in the form of his life for Aston Villa, Adama Traore is still flattering to deceive at Middlesbrough.
Is there a more in-form player in the Championship right now than Albert Adomah? With five goals in his last three games – from the wing no less – the red-hot Aston Villa winger could be a shoe-in for November’s Player of the Month award.
And his stunning run is made all the more impressive when you consider that, just two months ago, Adomah didn’t appear to be part of Steve Bruce’s plans at Villa Park. In fact, it was only a serious injury to homegrown whizzkid Andre Green that handed the 29-year-old the chance to kick start a Aston Villa career that looked to have ground to a halt.
But while Aston Villa’s recruitment has been heavily scrutinised in recent seasons, the club snapping up Adomah in exchange for Adama Traore in the summer of 2016 is looking more and more like an excellent piece of business.
At the time, it appeared to make little sense signing Adomah in exchange for the much younger Traore, one of the fastest players in English football who had shown real signs of startling potential after his arrival from Barcelona.
But after one hit-and-miss campaign in the Premier League, 21-year-old Traore is now back in the Championship with Middlesbrough. And it speaks volumes about his lack of progress that he has started just four league games all season under Garry Monk – and hasn’t featured in the first XI since being subbed at half-time in Middlesbrough’s 2-2 draw with Brentford two months ago.
Traore has two assists and no goals this season. In contrast, Adomah can boast ten strikes in England’s second tier – meaning he is just two goals away from matching the most prolific campaign of his career.
These days, no one at Villa Park is questioning a once controversial swap deal.
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