00:00A player in terms of, I have seen Traore, he has played off the left a little bit at times over the course of his career.
00:06Not a huge amount, I would say. It's clearly far from his most comfortable position.
00:10He wants to play on the right and cut in field, but he definitely can play off the left.
00:14He has also, for both club and country, played up front.
00:18So that is an option, I think, given the fact that Sonny's have signed Brian Broby and they now have three pretty strong centre-forwards going into the rest of the season.
00:24I don't think that's something we'll see too much of.
00:26I think we'll see him primarily as a right-winger, maybe very occasionally as a left-winger.
00:30But that is another option that's there over the course of the season within games.
00:34But yeah, something that I probably wouldn't expect to see too much of.
00:38So, a really interesting one. Traore obviously has some Premier League experience in terms of Vaston Villa.
00:44Joined Ajax on the free last summer and played pretty regularly.
00:48And I have to say that digging into the statistics of his season at Ajax, he played regularly.
00:53And, you know, football obviously isn't just about data, but, you know, his output was very good over that period of time.
00:59I'm going to take you through that a little bit now.
01:02Now, I would expect a winger playing for Ajax who led Eredivisie for most of the season.
01:07They actually finished second because of a late collapse.
01:10But we're kind of the best team in the league for much of the first stage of the season.
01:13I would expect, obviously, a winger in a team at the top of the league dominating the ball to have really, really good statistics.
01:19But even so, there's no getting past the fact that Traore's output was really good.
01:23Combined goals and assists of 10, which is pretty strong.
01:27That's just in the league as well.
01:28That's not taken into account European competitions.
01:30That's just Eredivisie.
01:32And if I look at it as stats, we can look at the fact that A, he's a pretty productive player in the final third.
01:39And B, someone who can kind of, if he is going to be used as an impact player, who can make an impact for someone.
01:44So, we'll take a little look at this.
01:46So, this is from stats website FB Ref, which we've been using all summer, which you'll be familiar with now.
01:52So, this is FB Ref's analysis of Traore competitive wingers in what they call the next 14 leagues.
01:58So, you have Europe's big five leagues.
02:00And then the Eredivisie is kind of in what they would describe as the next tranche of leagues.
02:04So, yeah, we're not comparing them to the same level as some of the other signings someone have made who've come in from one of those big leagues.
02:12But I still think it's a really good indicator.
02:14And ultimately, the Eredivisie is still a really good standard.
02:17So, he was in the top 3% of wingers for combined non-penalty goals and assists across all those divisions in terms of wingers last season.
02:25Across the whole of the Eredivisie last season, this is from Wisecout.
02:28He was actually in 13th for expected goals and assists.
02:33So, that's not just wingers.
02:34That's any position on the pitch, including strikers right across the Eredivisie.
02:37So, that tells you this is a guy who gets into good positions and gets a lot of shots away.
02:42In fact, he was 9th in the entire division, according to Wisecout, for Eredivisie last season for shots per 90 minutes.
02:49So, that tells you what he wants to do.
02:50He wants to get a field and he wants to shoot.
02:53Primarily shoot rather than cross them when the opportunity presents.
02:56Kind of makes sense, left foot are cutting him from the right, but that definitely is kind of what he wants to do and where his goal threat comes from.
03:02But that's not just to say, he's all about the shooting.
03:05Looking at these stats from Wisecout, he was also 6th for progressive runs per 90 minutes across the whole Eredivisie last season.
03:11And he was also 4th for deep completions per 90 minutes.
03:14So, that's basically passes in the final third, pretty much.
03:17It's a little bit more complex than that, but that's the easiest way to explain it.
03:20Sort of decisive actions to find a teammate deep in the opposition half.
03:23So, I can bring some more stats from FB Ref in terms of comparison to wingers across those next 14 leagues, which really kind of underline this, how productive Traore was last season.
03:34Top 6% for shot-creating actions.
03:37So, basically something that he did to create a shot either for himself or for a teammate in a game.
03:41Top 5% for progressive carries.
03:43So, that's essentially a dribbling statistic.
03:45Top 5% for progressive passes.
03:48And top 4% for passes into the penalty box.
03:50So, I think you're saying here that Traore is someone who makes things happen.
03:54Really quite that simple.
03:55Christian Sweetman actually said in Sunderland's statement when they signed him, a player who likes to eliminate defenders, likes to take people on, likes to make things happen.
04:03There are, I think, what we're seeing here is, obviously, financially, this is a very low-risk deal for Sunderland in terms of the commitment they've put in terms of the fee.
04:12It's certainly at Premier League level and also the contractual situation.
04:15And I think they're getting a player who, ultimately, at 29, is very experienced, knows his game, and actually has a habit of creating things and making things happen in the final third.
04:25And I think, given that, you know, obviously that Lauriente deal falling through, someone who's kind of been working really hard to try and find a winger.
04:31And it seems like a really, to be honest to me, a really sensible, pragmatic addition late in the window.
04:36Someone who brings something a bit different, who adds a little bit of extra depth, and quite frankly, has been performing at a decent level at a very high standard last season.
04:45He should be arriving match fit, having played regularly last season, and full of confidence, really, having had a good...
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