Always labelled as one of the more talented youngsters Chelsea managed to bring in, Bertrand Traoré doesn’t appear keen on his future being at Stamford Bridge. Loaned to Ajax this season, the youngster has managed to attract a lot of attention with his performances in the Europa League, especially in the Dutch side’s 4-1 dismantling of Lyon in the semi-final first leg.
Scoring his side’s opening goal, the Burkina Faso international was electric throughout, taking his tally in Europe to four goals and four assists for the current campaign. The performance led to links with Everton, Stoke City, and others.
With no option to buy, Ajax will be forced to let him return to Chelsea, but L’Equipe on Thursday explain Traoré has no intention of either being a sub in London or being loaned out again.
Wanting a permanent transfer, his and Chelsea’s demands limit the pool of clubs he can join, as the French newspaper explain the Blues will want negotiations to start at €10m, with the fee likely to comfortably go beyond that.
Foot Mercato revealed last week that a handful of clubs are monitoring the situation, including Everton and Stoke.
Both Ronald Koeman and Mark Hughes are going to be looking for attacking reinforcements in the summer, with the former in danger of losing Romelu Lukaku, while the Stoke just need someone capable of scaring defences again, something Peter Crouch and Mame Biram Diouf are unable to do.
Even if the fee reaches €20m, it would hardly dent either side’s budget, and they would be getting a player capable of both assisting and creating with plenty of margin to develop.
It’s at least worth a shot, especially when you take into consideration the fact Traoré has already scored two goals in 373 minutes of Premier League football.
That’s one more than Diouf has managed in 1251 minutes this season.
