“A massive difference,” Adama Traoré says when invited to compare the tactics of Nuno Espírito Santo with those of Tony Pulis. “At Wolves we play more offensively, at Middlesbrough it was more counterattack, waiting for the opportunity when the opponents lose the ball. Here is more movement.
“I spend a lot of time talking to the coach about where is the best position for me to be able to explode, because at Middlesbrough the wingers played open. At Wolves it has been more inside and I have even played as a striker, but I like the challenge. If I can adapt to different tactics I think I will be a better player.”
The 23-year-old former Barcelona player is certainly capable of explosive contributions. There are few quicker wingers in English football, while at Boro he was advised by Darren Campbell, who won 4x100m Olympic gold, to slow down a little to become more effective, though since growing impatient with the lack of first-team opportunities at the Camp Nou his impact in England has not been quite as spectacular as he might have hoped.
Although quitting Barcelona was a bold, if not reckless decision for a 19-year-old with 11 years at the club and a single senior league appearance, his choice of destination proved unfortunate. “I joined Aston Villa to improve myself in the Premier League,” he says. “It started well but then I got injured and Villa ended up having five managers that season.”
Traoré is back in the Premier League with Wolves, just not starting as many games as he would like. His present manager, Nuno, prefers to use him as an impact substitute, a role he is well-equipped to fulfil, though FA Cup games such as Sunday’s visit to Bristol City give him the chance to start.
Throughout his career rave reviews of Traoré’s pace have been accompanied by the rider that he does not always make the most of his ability to terrorise defenders. Disarmingly, before the subject comes up, he volunteers the same opinion of himself. “I’ve always been quick but I do recognise I need to improve my end product,” he says.
“I am quite self-critical, I try to keep focused on what I need to do better, and in the final third of the pitch I know I can do miles better. Nuno wants me to improve so I can play as a striker and I think I can do it.”
Having friends in Spain who spoke highly of Nuno’s short time as manager of Valencia, as well as encountering Wolves last season with Boro, Traoré did not have to think too long when the offer came in the summer. He now feels his education is back on track and, based on what he saw and learned at Barcelona’s La Masia, is more than willing to put in extra hours on the training pitch or the conditioning room.
“I get asked a lot about players like Lionel Messi and Neymar and people seem to have the idea that they don’t do any work because they have a God-given talent,” he says. “That is just not true, they work all the time, they are totally dedicated and that’s why they are where they are.
“You can’t stay for 10 years at the top level by doing nothing, it is impossible, and aAt a club like Barcelona they take care of a lot of things, like diet, eating and sleeping. There’s even a machine that can tell you whether it is better to eat or drink coffee before a game or afterwards. Because people are different, what works for one may have the opposite effect for another, but the machine can help you work it out.”
All of which raises the question of whether it was wise for a player who joined Barcelona at the age of eight – his mother put the phone down when the club first got in touch because Traoré’s older brother was with Espanyol and she thought it was a prank call – to leave before he became established in the first team.
“I had been two years in the second team and was due to do the next pre-season with the first team, but it didn’t happen because it turned out it wasn’t in my contract,” he says. “I was angry, I changed my agent and told them I wanted to leave.
“It was about the moment. I know that players like Xavi and Iniesta waited a long time before playing, but I also think that was a different time. Now I’m not sure if you wait your chance will come along. Barcelona and Real Madrid want players ready now because they want to win things.”
Talking of which, a place in the last eight of the FA Cup beckons. “Anything is possible in football,” he says. “We are winning a lot of games and we have big confidence. I can’t tell you we are going to win the FA Cup but I can promise we will fight for it.”