Finally announced over the weekend, the signing of Bertrand Traoré by Aston Villa is one many will be keeping an eye on this season.
The winger already has some Premier League experience, having featured in the competition during his time at Chelsea earlier on in his career, but the 25-year-old is now more mature, with bigger expectations now placed on his shoulders.
Traoré knows this, and, after being cast to one side at Lyon by Rudi Garcia, made it clear he needed to play this season instead of sitting on a bench somewhere.
That’s when the move to Villa Park was organised, an opportunity the player grasped with both hands, as he revealed in an interview with RFI on Sunday.
He said: “I liked the project. They got in touch with me and offered me a good project. The aim is to come and play, to do good things and to help the team stay in the Premier League”.
Asked if he had any regrets regarding his Lyon exit, he added: “I think it’s better to talk about my new club instead of wasting time on what happened at Lyon. I took the decision of joining a new club, a new project, a club that wanted me.
“I’m happy to be here and to start a new adventure. I spent three years at Lyon, I did my time there. I’m happy of my time at Lyon”.
The player also revealed the biggest reason for him joining Aston Villa was because he ‘didn’t have time to waste’, as ‘either you’re in the plans of the manager and you play or you’re not and you leave’.
No longer seeing himself as a ‘young player’ at 25, Traoré simply didn’t see himself ‘sitting on a bench’ at this point of his career, hence the move.
Either way, he’s at Villa Park now, and he seems pretty happy about it all.
