By Tom Wardle
It’s over. He’s gone. Adama Traore has been one heck of a rollercoaster ride. One of the rides at your local fair, you first see it in action and it looks truly magnificent. You step on and you’re thinking ‘this is shocking’. Then you hear the voice, revealing you're about to go faster, then… excitement. It ends, but it always ends too soon. Blink and you’d have missed Adama’s rapid rise to success.
The start. Adama came on against Tottenham with 30 minutes to go. Little did we know us Boro fans were about to witness possibly the most exciting player to ever play at the Riverside Stadium. The Spaniard picked the ball up on the edge of the Boro box countless times, he’d dribble, dribble a little bit more and just keep on dribbling. Passes going astray at the end of his runs because he just couldn’t slow down quick enough, yet every time he got the ball, Boro fans rose from their seats to witness him single-handedly take on a whole team.
From then on every time that season, when Adama Traore got the ball Boro fans were excited. Yet, apparently, he had a poor season? Sure his crossing could have been better at times, but I counter that argument by saying, who was he crossing to? Alvaro Negredo? He struggled to keep up. Adama essentially played wing-back that season, and still looked like Boro’s only attacking outlet throughout the season. Especially after the Gaston-saga.
Aitor Karanka never got to finish his ‘project’ with Adama, in fact, he barely even started it. Steve Agnew didn’t give him a chance. Who next to try and turn the youngster into a world-beater? Garry Monk.
Boro’s best game under Monk was Bolton away in September, and it was all about one man. Adama Traore got a standing ovation from both sets of supporters when the game ended. Bolton supporters said his performance had been the best individual performance they’d ever seen at the stadium. A game later the rollercoaster ride started to slow. He was sent off in the 2nd minute against Aston Villa just when we thought he was about to become a star. He started just 3 more games under Monk. Maybe if he’d have played Traore more often the now Birmingham City manager would have still been at Boro. I for one am glad he isn’t.
Next up to try and get the best out of our Spanish winger was current Boro boss Tony Pulis. By the time he arrived, many thought Adama’s Boro career was over. It wasn’t by a long stretch. Pulis was given a shy Spanish man who didn’t look a part of the team. He turned him into a confident Spanish man who became the most exciting attacking talent in the league.
Away at QPR, Traore ran the show. Boro were 2-0 up and cruising to a well-deserved away win; going 3-0 up wouldn’t make much difference, would it? To Boro fans it meant the world. Comments online from opposition fans and our own saying Traore hasn’t got an end product really did get on our nerves. Adama scored his first ever Boro goal, the travelling fans went mental. It’s as though we were in his shoes. We were all so desperate for him to score, our emotions just came flowing out in abundance.
After that, the Adama Traore show became somewhat normal for Boro fans as week after week he’d provide masterclass after masterclass. Yet it wasn’t. I don’t care if his goalscoring numbers weren’t out of this world, I don’t care if he misplaced a few crosses. In six months, Garry Monk turned our football club into a mess. But there was one shining beacon of hope which kept our promotion hopes alive, one player who kept bringing supporters to their feet, producing out of this world performances on Teesside.
Football is an entertainment sport, where a very small percentage of players and clubs are successful. People forget that when watching football matches. Appreciate what you have when you have it because you're going to miss it when it's gone. Adama Traore is one of a kind, and I have every confidence he is going to be a huge talent.
We have to return to normality now, passing our way to the penalty area as opposed to giving it to Adama on the edge of our own area and asking him to run the full length of the pitch. His departure hasn’t truly settled in yet because he’s not only one of a kind, he’s also one of the nicest players to ever play for the shirt. His mindset is clear; he wants to be the best that he can be. But on the journey there, he had enough time to thank Boro fans, giving shirts away. A truly remarkable gesture.
This is not an over the top article, this is an article appreciating a player who we won't quite know what we are missing until we see him on Match of the Day being praised by Gary and Alan.
Goodbye, our magic Spanish winger. I’m sure our paths will cross again someday.
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