Chelsea FC: Explaining the Bertrand Traore and Dominic Solanke Quandary

Chelsea's Burkinabe right/centre-forward Bertrand Traore, 19, and English centre-forward Dominic Solanke, 17, are on a collision course.

On loan at Vitesse, Traore is one crucial stride ahead of Solanke, which could stay that way for the next few years.

Retracing Traore's Early Steps

January 1, 2014, could be a landmark date in Chelsea's history.

It is the day Traore signed a four-and-a-half year contract at Chelsea after an elongated process.

What piqued Chelsea's interest in Traore?

During the 2009 FIFA U17 World Cup, then-Burkina Faso manager Rainer Willfeld's trump card was Traore, at the time a scrawny 14-year-old. 

Logging 150 minutes over four games, Traore failed to receive an outstanding player mention by the FIFA technical study group, but matched Neymar's output (one goal).

After witnessing the demise of Nii Lamptey—he never came close to surpassing Abedi Pele, let alone Pele—and having coached Bachirou Salou, a wunderkind turned role player, Willfeld remained cautiously optimistic of Traore's future. 

"What [Traore lacks] is physical ability to compete with bigger players," Willfeld said, per FIFA.com.

"[But] he could become a very great player because he can do everything with the ball ... [with] good coaching, people who will look after him correctly and not make him a big player before he is a big player, then I think he can play at any level within five years."

The admiration extended outside the Burkinabe football community, as then-Rwanda national team manager Sellas Tetteh exhausted all the possible superlatives he could heap on Traore.

"[Traore is] a great player, a wonderful player, delightful to watch, intelligent on the ball, a good passer of the ball, fearless [and] daring," Tetteh said, per Matthew Kenyon at BBC Fast Track. "He's the kind of player you love to see all the time."

The wunderkind-type like Traore's older brother Alain.

"I met with Alex Ferguson [and] of course I wanted to stay [at Manchester United], but there was a problem with my work permit," Alain said, per L'Equipe (h/t Patrick Haond at Sky Sports). "I would have had to be sent on loan to [Royal Antwerp in] Belgium for six months and my mother refused [because] she preferred Auxerre."

Being courted by a major European club runs in the family.

For Alain, it was Manchester United. For Traore, it is Chelsea.

Aged between 15 and 17 years and 364 days old, Traore was essentially a free agent due to FIFA rules, per BBC Sport: "Football sides are not allowed to sign any foreign players under the age of 18 unless both team and player are from an EU country (or are less than 100 kilometres apart across an international border) or the player's parents move to that country for non-football reasons."

Unable to contractually commit to Traore, Chelsea appealed to the fidelity part of his psyche.

His unique situation combined with his remarkably high potential contributed to him being embedded around Chelsea's first-team squad.

"[Traore] told me Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou were looking after him," Alain said, per Ian Hawkey at The National. "[Traore] has kept his feet on the ground even with all the interest in him."

On paper, Traore was a Chelsea trialist, staying in England via a student visa, per Jeremy Wilson at The Telegraph.

In reality, Traore was on the books of Association Jeunes Espoirs De Bobo-Dioulasso, and allowed to stay at Chelsea as if he was a permanently contracted player. 

Chelsea cunningly navigated around the scenario of being entangled in a Barcelona-esque mess, per CNN:

"

Barcelona hit with transfer ban by FIFA.

...

Barcelona's youth players are drawn not just from Catalonia and Spain, but also from around the globe and trying to recruit the world's best is a competitive business—Argentine Lionel Messi joined Barca at the age of 11.

... 

FIFA's investigation focused on several players aged under 18 who were registered and played for [Barcelona] between 2009 and 2013.

"

Traore vs. Solanke

Traore is perhaps Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho's most naturally gifted teenager since Carlos Alberto Gomes at Porto.

Meanwhile, Solanke, a prolific No. 9 in age-restricted competitions, is the equal-top scorer (tied with Real Madrid's Borja Mayoral) in the UEFA Youth League with seven goals in five games. 

Contributing to England winning the 2014 UEFA European U17 Championship factored into Solanke being voted the England Men's Youth Player of the Year by Vauxhall England.

Yet, the UEFA technical observers selected Alexandre Silva (Portugal), Enes Unal (Turkey), Patrick Roberts (England) and Steven Bergwijn (the Netherlands) over Solanke for the Team of the Tournament, despite him scoring four times.

While most 17 year olds are configuring their FIFA ultimate teams, Solanke has already made his debut in the UEFA Champions League, coming on as a substitute in Chelsea's 6-0 win over Maribor.

"Solanke is at a level where we know he has the talent but he's far away [from being a first-team regular]," Mourinho said, per ChelseaFC.com. "He's going to play many Champions League matches because he will be a good player."

Will Solanke be Chelsea's Javier Portillo?

Once viewed as the successor to Raul at Real Madrid, Portillo's career did not pan out the way many expected, per Peter O'Rourke at Sky Sports:

"

Portillo viewed as a goal poacher ... has had incredible pressure on him ever since he was a youngster after his incredible feats in the Real Madrid youth team. 

He has even outscored Raul [at youth level], netting over 700 goals since joining Real Madrid as an 11-year-old ... this could be the season for Portillo to take the next step up in his career.

"

When you compare Solanke to Traore, there is a significant gap in ability favouring the Vitesse loanee.

Traore's technique is flawless, he is elegant on the ball, he is a goal-threat from outside the box and he can drift away from tackles.

Vitesse manager Peter Bosz always had an inkling that Traore would be a No. 9, because he started up front in a 0-0 draw against ADO Den Haag last season.

This season, Traore has interchanged from right-forward to centre-forward.

Now he has become Bosz's primary No. 9, displacing Abiola Dauda from the starting lineup.

When you watch Traore, you are in awe of his extraordinary showmanship.

Just ask Willem II goalkeeper Kostas Lamprou, who was effortlessly chipped by Traore from outside the box in Vitesse's 2-0 win.

Going by the eye-test, you would class Traore alongside the likes of Ajax's Anwar El Ghazi and Daley Sinkgraven as the best teenagers in the Eredivisie.

Sure, it is fraught with danger to make a blanket statement on a prospect (Harry Kane smiles at all his early critics), but when you watch Solanke, there is that doubt in the back of your mind.

You are not ready to go all-in and say Solanke will be to Chelsea to what Kane is to Tottenham Hotspur. 

Kane didn't have his path blocked by Traore.

When you think about it, Solanke is actually Chelsea's third-best centre-forward prospect behind Traore and Stipe Perica, who has 17 goals at top-flight level (Solanke has zero).

This is the con of stockpiling talent, because now Chelsea have to project which centre-forward prospect has what it takes to succeed at Stamford Bridge.

Within the next three seasons, one will be a first-team regular, while the other two will probably be sold [1].

Should Chelsea guess wrong, they will find themselves in another Daniel Sturridge situation.

If Chelsea had to make a decision right now, you surmise they would go with Traore over Solanke.

---

[1] Udinese have a €4/£2.9 million option to extend Perica's loan into a permanent deal, per David Amoyal at GianlucaDiMarzio.com.

Though, Chelsea did not confirm a buyout clause in Perica's contract, per ChelseaFC.com.

+allanjiang.

When not specified, statistics via WhoScored.com.