ADAMA TRAORE was a rough diamond in 2016 when he joined Middlesbrough.
Ex-Boro boss Aitor Karanka explains how he helped him become a key player for Spain.
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THE fact Adama Traore goes into these Euros as one of Spain’s most versatile and dangerous players shows how far he has come.
Because the idea of the stocky winger having the discipline to play wing-back when I first took him to Middlesbrough five years ago would have seemed impossible.
But this is a really humble kid who never stops wanting to learn and improve.
Sometimes you find very good players who think they have reached the top, yet Adama is the opposite.
Through that mentality he has transformed himself into one of Luis Enrique’s most useful assets — and he can get better because his potential is amazing.
Adama has always had the ability to conjure something out of nothing with his tremendous pace, power and dribbling skills.
That was what set him apart in Barcelona’s La Masia academy, where he had a similar experience to Lionel Messi — he would get the ball and score but did not need to defend.
Sometimes you find very good players who think they have reached the top, yet Adama is the opposite
Aitor Karanka
When he came to us at Boro, he had had a difficult time at Aston Villa where he struggled to adapt to life in Birmingham and had troubles with injuries.
The first thing to do was create a relationship with him and then it was more about tactics and trying to fix the mistakes he was making.
I had to try to teach him the right movements and where he should be when we lost the ball, while being careful not to stop his ability going forward.
I spent a lot of time with him in my office with the tactics board working on things.
He was surprised because after a few meetings I didn’t say anything. I told him, ‘Look, I am tired because I’m always teaching you. Tell me where you should be’.
And he knew everything, he went to the board and explained it all. He knew what he should do — but he didn’t do it in the games.
I always had Adama next to me on the pitch and I would tell him what he should do.
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One day Victor Valdes and Alvaro Negredo came to my office and said, ‘Look gaffer, we are feeling that Adama is a little bit concerned because you are always behind him.
‘Can you give him freedom? Because you know sometimes he’s looking at you and we are losing his creativity.’
But it was part of the process for him. He improved more and then he started to take the right decisions.
Before, he would do amazing things and then he would lose the last pass or he would shoot when he didn’t need to.
As for his amazing physicality, he didn’t work on it because he likes his body but because he knew the work he did was helping him improve as a football player.
Adama continued to improve under Tony Pulis and then with Nuno Espirito Santo at Wolves, who helped him become so versatile.
Now he can play on the wing, in a front two and wing-back in a back five.
It makes him so important to Spain, whether they start him or use him as a weapon off the bench.
As for his amazing physicality, he didn’t work on it because he likes his body but because he knew the work he did was helping him improve as a football player
Aitor Karanka
Adama is one of a new breed of Spanish players and Enrique is having to do things differently, because we don’t have the quality of the players we had a decade ago who played such wonderful, tiki-taka football.
We would have loved to have kept those players for another 30 years but it was impossible.
Now we have a young team and the preparation has not been easy following Sergio Busquets’ positive Covid test.
It may seem a surprise to those who do not follow LaLiga that there are no Real Madrid players in the squad.
But there were only ever five possible Real players who would have been included — Sergio Ramos, Dani Carvajal, Lucas Vazquez, Marco Asensio and Nacho, and the first three have struggled with injury.
It has been important to pick players in good form after such an exhausting season and in Villarreal’s Gerard Moreno, Spain have one to watch.
Moreno scored 30 goals this season, including against Manchester United in the Europa League final, and he’ll be important to the team.
Another player who can catch the eye is Barcelona’s 18-year-old midfielder Pedri, who has had a really good season.
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You cannot forget experienced players like Koke either, while Enrique wanted to bring young players into defence like Eric Garcia.
Garcia’s inclusion has been a surprise in Spain but his experience in England at Manchester City is good for the team.
I don’t know if we are one of the favourites but Spain will be very competitive.
It will still be deemed as a failure at home if we do not win it, though, after our recent success!
But we need to put everything into perspective. Spain are going through a transition and that process needs time and understanding.
I am working for Uefa as an observer at the tournament, analysing games from a tactical perspective and choosing the man of the match.
It is important to always keep learning — as Adama always understood.
