Chelsea's Bertrand Traore Is Impressing in the Way Every Young Player Should
Manchester City started with six teenagers in their FA Cup clash with Chelsea on Sunday. By full-time, it was a Chelsea youngster who would be coming away feeling most pleased with his contribution, though.
Bertrand Traore scored the third goal of his budding Blues career as Chelsea thrashed City 5-1 to advance to the quarter-finals, where they’ll face Everton next month.
It means that, from nowhere, the Burkina Faso striker is suddenly looking a real prospect to work his way into first-team contention at Stamford Bridge. He’s been on the periphery for a while and now Traore’s profile is on the rise.
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It’s thanks to his goals and nothing else.
Full-time status as a Chelsea first-team star remains a long way off for the 20-year-old, yet those three strikes he has registered since the turn of the year represent the sort of form that ensures managers pay attention.
Interim boss Guus Hiddink is doing just that right now as Traore is demanding he must. As a striker, there’s no commodity more valuable than goals and the youngster is showing he can deliver in that regard.
It’s the minimum you can ask of any player—young or old. The need is for them to contribute, to play a part in their team’s successes.
Traore's goals ensure he boasts a unique Chelsea statistic: Whenever he scores, Hiddink’s men win 5-1. He registered his first goal for the club against MK Dons in the fourth round of the FA Cup, following that with his first Premier League strike against Newcastle United last Sunday.
On each occasion, Chelsea came out 5-1 winners like they did against City. Traore also rounded off each victory with the fifth.
How and when he found the back of the net in those games isn’t the important thing where Traore is concerned. He’s living off the scraps of cameo appearances in this moment, yet he’s doing enough in limited time to build momentum.
His concern should be about minutes on the pitch, only Traore is stepping it up by getting himself on the scoresheet. His confidence is brimming, and confidence in the young player is equally being built.
He has the perfect example in Diego Costa for the benefits of what that all means. The Spain international is seven years Traore’s senior, but the parallels with their season are clear.
Costa has re-established himself in west London simply by scoring goals regularly again. When he was busy fighting his demons and scrapping with opponents, Chelsea’s campaign was falling apart. It was in desperate need of some sort of spark, which the forward has now given with his nine goals in 12 games.
He’s back to being a match-winner, impacting the big moments for the Blues. For instance, Costa has scored Chelsea’s first goal in seven of those nine matches he has found the back of the net in under Hiddink.
He’s giving this team a different dynamic. Chelsea suddenly have a cutting edge once again, which is hinting at taking them a long way in the cup competitions after their weak surrender of the Premier League title.
Where Traore comes into it is that he’s changing the conversation about Chelsea’s undoubted emerging talent. For too long we’ve spoken of the negatives, that the club doesn’t practice what it preaches in terms of the youth they have.
Chelsea have won back-to-back FA Youth Cups and are also the reigning UEFA Youth League champions. They have serious credentials in their junior ranks, but we’re still not seeing that transfer into the senior game.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek is a name that continues to excite, and now Traore has added himself to the equation.
Whereas it’s difficult to measure the impact of Loftus-Cheek in the moments he is given by Hiddink, Traore’s goals are the ideal barometer for him.
He’s a striker after all and by adding to that ever-increasing tally, it’s only going to add to his reputation.
It’s his no-fear approach that is refreshing. Sure, Chelsea’s games have been out of sight when he has come on to score and complete each individual rout, yet finding himself in the sort of positions he has is the hard bit, regardless of the scoreline.
It takes courage and certain amount of belief to orchestrate the goals Traore has.
Against MK Dons and Newcastle, it was about Traore’s endeavour to work the situation before arriving to expertly lash the ball home. Indeed, against the Magpies, he started and finished the move that led to his goal.
His strike against City was a fortuitous header that looped over Willy Caballero into the back of the net. We shouldn’t let that fool us, however. We’re constantly fed the line about strikers making their own opportunities, feeding of everything around them to score. It’s exactly what Traore is doing.
Sunday was just Traore’s seventh Chelsea appearance. He is yet to complete a full game, with his total time played this term standing at a mere 114 minutes. Divide that by the goals he has scored and he is registering every 38 minutes. That’s a strike rate of over two goals per game.
That’s what we want to see from young players. Traore is doing it.
Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes
