The winter market closed on Monday and days before that, Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Adama Traoré sealed a move to Barcelona.
Wolves allowed the winger return to his old club on a loan deal and the latter retain an option to make the transfer permanent next summer.
A ‘confidencial’ report in today’s edition of Sport gives an insight into how the deal took shape.
It’s claimed ‘everything was done during Christmas and in the strictest privacy’. Towards the end of last month, the 26-year-old ‘travelled’ to Barcelona, to ‘listen to the Blaugrana offer’ and also their ‘long-term project’ for him.
This operation was ‘arranged’ by his agent, Jorge Mendes, but the Spain international and his family wanted to know what the La Liga side ‘thought of him’.
During the Christmas meeting between Traoré [with some of his family members] and Joan Laporta, it was the Barcelona president who convinced the player to return to the club.
Laporta was reportedly ‘key’ in the Wolves owned man’s transfer to the Spanish club.
Xavi Hernández’s side decided to push for Traoré after realising Ousmane Dembélé has refused to accept their renewal offer, and the Spaniard’s trip to Barcelona helped the Camp Nou side to seal the deal quickly in a matter of days.
Sport add Barca are not just counting on the winger until the end of the season, but for the future as well.
