Bertrand Traore
New £19 million signing Bertrand Traore is poised to make his Premier League debut for Aston Villa at Craven Cottage on Monday after grabbing the headlines in midweek. The Burkinabe winger scored a sensational opening goal just 14 minutes after making his claret and blue bow, caressing home Jacob Ramsey’s lofted pass past Bristol City keeper Max O’Leary.
Dean Smith said “He’s trained really well, he looks fit, The French season curtailed early last year, obviously. His team, Lyon, were in the Champions League so he’s been training pretty regular. His fitness levels were really good and he certainly made a good start. We work on exploiting the space in behind defenders and you need to have good pace and movement to do that. He’s certainly got that, What he also adds is competition to the likes of Trezeguet, Jack and El Ghazi. He gives us a lot of competition that you need as a manager. He’s got quality that’s for sure, as well as real pace. I see him more playing on the right. That’s where he’s been more productive but he can also play down the middle. He’s played their many times. I’ve got Ghazi and Trezeguet who can play both sides and who have done for both club and country. I’m satisfied with the squad that I’ve got. I feel it’s a higher quality but, more importantly, more athletic this season. This season we’re right at it.”
