With Lille’s squad stretched by a heavy autumnal fixture list, Rene Girard had few options but to throw young Adama Traoré into a starting berth away at Lyon. The match was lost 0-3 and les Dogues were abject, but this decision to toss the Malian academy graduate in at the deep end looks like it will bear fruit for the northern club.
Lille scouts spotted Traoré playing at the Academy Jean-Marc Guillou in Mali’s capital, Bamako; they soon made a move for the midfielder in early 2013. Traoré went on loan to Lille’s partner club Royal Mouscron-Péruwelz in January 2014 but made a limited impact.
Traoré had only featured three times for the CFA side before making his debut as a sub against Nice in September, but quickly transformed himself into a starter in Girard’s first-team. His meteoric rise to prominence in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais is a testament to his ability to work hard and adapt to alien surroundings.
So, back we go to the Stade Gerland and Lyon. In the absence of Marvin Martin and Rony Lopes, Girard inserted Traoré into the “no.10 role” in a 4-3-1-2 formation. This is clearly not his ideal position, with Portuguese playmaker Rony Lopes showing more of a creative edge. It is in the deeper role, playing at both ends of the midfield that have truly caught the eye.
A fine example of this was in the second half of the 1-0 home win against Evian Thonon Gaillard. A dire performance in the first period saw Lille booed off by the home faithful, but the introduction of Swiss attacker Michael Frey just off the attack saw Traoré move deeper into the midfield. In his new position as a box-to-box midfielder, he took the game by the scruff of the neck.
Thrown into the thick of the action he would go on to score the winning goal with a stunning right-footed effort. Receiving the ball from Florent Balmont, Traoré tip-toed inside an ETG defender and found the back of the net with a piledriver from 20 yards out.
Although this goal was scored with Traoré’s “weaker” right, his left foot is definitely the more prominent. The Malian has a good eye for a pass from either side, and corner delivery with his left has become a dangerous weapon for Les Dogues. Traore is able to receive the ball deep and instigate an attack, whether with a ball through the lines or a jinking run. The teenage Malian honed his dribbling and close control while playing street football in Bamako, and these skills add another dimension to Traoré’s game.
Although he is relatively slight, Traoré is stronger than he looks and thus can hold off pressure and then pick a pass. Distinct similarities can be drawn between Traoré and teammate Idrissa Gana Gueye, who has also been enjoying a productive season at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy. Like Gueye, Traoré is industrious and bustling, and has really captivated the fans’ imagination in the no. 8 role, incidentally the shirt number he was assigned after the New Year.
Although Traoré cannot boast the ridiculous distances covered per match that Gueye can, he can undeniably get around the park, with an average of 10.6km covered per game. This was apparent in Lille’s 0-1 loss to Monaco, where Traoré was Lille’s best performer as a makeshift left-winger with a lung-busting performance. The teenager confirmed earlier in the season that Gueye has been mentoring him:
“I often speak with Idrissa Gueye. He gives me a lot of advice, such as to work like crazy in training and to only think about football. He experienced the same thing as I did a few years ago: arriving in Europe and discovering a new world, and he managed to become a starter. He is a great player.”
Young Traoré should be delighted with his breakthrough campaign, but he will recognise areas in which he can improve. A greater contribution in terms of goals and assists would be a good place to start, as it would push the Malian’s game to the next level. This is the most important thing he can do, as he obviously has it in his locker.
You can already see that with his growing confidence, he is pushing himself further into the final third. Coming on as a sub against Bordeaux on Sunday, Traoré was the highest man up the pitch when Soufiane Boufal picked him out with a lovely over-the-top pass and the Malian took his time and cooly slotted the ball past Carrasso to seal the 2-0 win.
Traoré is more than ready to pick up the mantle from Gueye should the 25-year-old move on this summer. Lille have shown confidence in the 19-year-old by handing him the no.8 shirt and extending his contract until the summer of 2019. Indeed, Girard’s decision to blood him early is really paying off now and, if Traoré’s progression continues, Ligue 1 may well witness the blossoming of another top drawer box-to-box midfielder.
