Adama Traore is enjoying life back at Barcelona after returning to Catalunya earlier this year.
The winger joined the Spanish giants on loan in January, with an option for Barca to complete a £29million transfer in the summer included in the agreement. Traore has so far contributed four assists in 10 appearances and was a second half substitute in the Blaugrana's comprehensive 4-0 win over Real Madrid at the Bernabeu last weekend.
The Spain international is buying into the wants and desires of his new head coach, Xavi Hernandez, and playing his part in Barcelona's improvement under his former teammate. But not so long ago, the now 26-year-old was struggling to turn up for training on time at Championship side Middlesbrough. And, as one of his former teammates has now revealed, the Boro squad even felt pity for Traore after he ended up paying countless fines for his lack of timekeeping.
Stewart Downing, who was with Traore during his time on Teesside from 2016 to 2018, said in a recent interview with Ladbrokes : "One player comes to mind straight away when I think of the biggest culprit for club fines: Adama Traore. A great, great lad, but he had absolutely no sense of time.
"He didn't drive, and he lived right next to the training ground so he'd come to training on his little scooter, and he'd always be late. We'd all be travelling from 40 minutes or so away, he's two minutes around the corner and he was always late.
"One time he went home for an afternoon nap and we were leaving on the coach for a game later on in the day. (Manager) "Garry Monk just told the driver to leave him because he wasn't waking up.
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"He was a really good lad and we all tried to help him as much as we could - we'd just be saying, 'Adama, come on... just set your alarm on your phone'. I think he just liked paying fines!
"In the end, it got too out of hand; we decided between us we just couldn't take the amounts of money from him that he was having to pay us in fines.We couldn't just keep fining him, it clearly wasn't working, so we just had to literally drag him on the bus. He was a great lad, but he just had zero concept of time."
Traore's Molinuex contract expires in the summer of 2023. Speaking after Traore's loan move was sanctioned, Wolves ' technical director Scott Sellars said: "Adama has always acted with the utmost professionalism, however it is no secret that we have not been able to agree a new contract with him, despite protracted negotiations, and his desire at the moment is to play football elsewhere.
"Everyone knows Barcelona is a city, and club, very close to Adama's heart, so it is a dream move for him. We have also agreed a very healthy option in the deal should Barcelona wish to make the move permanent this summer. We wish Adama the best of luck in Spain, and hope that he plays regularly, has great success and shows everyone what he is capable of."
