Adama Traore to Chelsea for £25 million would be suspicious

With the Achraf Hakimi transfer on ice, Chelsea and Thomas Tuchel seemingly haven’t given up on getting a wide right player. Unsatisfied, for whatever reason, with the potential of Reece James or Callum Hudson-Odoi to stretch the play, the club is going turning their attention elsewhere. Enter Adama Traore.

Traore is a bit of an enigma. His dribbling stats are some of the best in Europe. His production, however, is shockingly low. Chelsea’s now been interested in him, or at least linked to him, three times. The first time was when Antonio Conte was at the club and Traore hadn’t quite hit it big at Wolves yet. The second time was when Wolves slapped a £100 million price tag on him to ward off big teams sniffing about. And now, the third time when Chelsea once again is using three at the back, but after a less than stellar season for Traore and Wolves overall.

Adama Traore can supposedly go for £25 million. Chelsea should be somewhat suspicious of such a price after he was worth £100 million not long ago. For that price, it’s hard to say no, but that’s exactly why Chelsea should hesitate and think it over.

First of all is the player himself. He’s had a bit of a rollercoaster career. From the Barcelona academy, to a bad season at Aston Villa, to breaking through at Middlesbrough in the Championship, to slowly finding his way into Wolves, Traore has done a lot. He might not be a great winger, but wingback seems to have been a solid landing spot for him. At Wolves, he’s been a bit of an ever present iron man over the course of the last two seasons. He’s essentially a player that creates chaos for teammates to exploit.

And, even with this being a down year overall for him, he still made a Spain side that he really is such an awkward fit for stylistically. So, there is something there for sure but that only raises more questions as to why the rumored price is so low.

As for how he fits in at Chelsea, he does fit the mold of an offensive wingback the Blues are supposedly looking for but don’t really need. That being said, there is a pretty big difference between dropping 80 million plus on a player you don’t need and 25 million on a player you don’t need. The Hakimi deal very much could have dug into pursuits for other, actually needed players. 25 million for Traore would be a splash in the pond.

25 million also makes the deal rather risk adverse overall too, not unlike the Ross Barkley deal from a few years ago. If they hit the heights that they have on occasion more frequently, then it is a steal. If they don’t, it’s hard not to at least make something back on them with a transfer fee.

Chelsea should be suspicious about any player going from a 100 million valuation to a 25 million valuation in just a few seasons. They’ll surely do their due diligence about that. Afterwards, if it all checks out, it might be too good a gamble to pass up.