Everton saw a significant number of new players coming into Goodison Park during the summer transfer window.
While some of those came from fellow Premier League clubs, one top-flight figure who was linked with a move to Merseyside but ultimately stayed put is Adama Traore.
In July, it was reported that Everton had an interest in signing the Wolves winger, who would have apparently cost Frank Lampard’s side £10m.
In truth, we feel that the Toffees and Kevin Thelwell have dodged a bullet by not signing the Spain international.
Across 159 appearances for the Midlands club, the 26-year-old has found the net just 12 times and provided 18 assists in the process.
Last season saw Traore spend the first half of the campaign at Molineux before joining Barcelona on loan in the January transfer window.
In his 20 Premier League appearances last term before jetting off to Catalunya, the attacker only scored one goal and ultimately ended the campaign with the Old Gold’s second-highest average of unsuccessful touches per game (2.3) according to WhoScored.
Having appeared in just four Premier League games in this current campaign, each of those from the bench, it suggests that he’s not particularly high up in Bruno Lage’s pecking order. That is even despite Wolves being the division’s joint-lowest scorers, with the 26-year-old unable to convince his manager to throw him in and provide a spark with his searing pace.
When he has had the chance to get on the pitch, Traore hasn’t exactly done much to convince Lage that he should be a regular starter. He currently has a rather weak overall performance rating of 6.16/10 from WhoScored, leaving some players who have played fewer minutes than him with higher ratings.
Slammed by Tony Cascarino for his “terrible” attacking output, it’s hard to see how Traore would have been an effective addition to Lampard’s squad.
With all that in mind, we feel that Everton should be thankful that they didn’t secure a deal for the Wolves dud in the summer, as he hasn’t really shown he’d be good enough to play for the Toffees.
