The 'Adama Traore doesn't have a football brain' argument is so wrong

Football fans seldom share exactly the same opinion on a player, yet one man who seems to have defied that logic is Adama Traore.

It's almost universally accepted that the Wolves forward is basically just an athlete with no football brain, and in some ways it's kind of nice that the football world have put their differences aside to finally agree on something.

The only problem is they're all wrong. What are the chances?

It would be utterly naive of us to try and convince you that without his ridiculous ability to go from a standstill to a sprint in the space of 0.7 seconds he'd still be at a similar level of quality, but that's almost as stupid as when people claim certain teams wouldn't be anywhere near as good if you took their best player out of the side - having good players is sort of the point, isn't it?

At the risk of sounding cliched, Traore is all about pace, power and athleticism, but there's so much more to his game than just being a flat-track bully.

The Spaniard recently produced without doubt the best assist we've seen in the Premier League this season in Wolves' narrow defeat to West Ham. Having picked up the ball in his own half, the jet-heeled winger skipped away from one challenge before applying the afterburners and advancing into the Hammers' half.

Having showcased his ability to run at intense speed while maintaining control of the ball - something he's rarely given credit for, y'know, cos 'he just runs fast' - he showed the nous to put on the brakes with opposition defenders emerging, before skipping away from the much-lauded Vladimir Coufal with a deft flick of his weaker foot.

Then came the part that he apparently can't do, the only problem is - he can.

The former Middlesbrough man showed the composure to pick his head up and steady himself before whipping a brilliant ball into the middle, laying it on a plate for Leander Dendoncker to head home.

Very little was made of the assist considering its quality. Was it because the resulting goal proved to be just a consolation, or was it because Traore proving he's got a footballing brain doesn't quite fit the narrative that's been created of him just being a sprinter?

It's not for us to say, but we all know as football fans we don't like our opinions of players being proved wrong.

Having produced an assist worthy of a Ballon d'Or nomination alone, Traore's superb, last-gasp winner at Fulham four days later secured all three points for Nuno Espirito Santo's side at Craven Cottage, yet it probably shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that the Spaniard's first Premier League goal in 16 months came so soon after his moment of Molineux magic.

The 25-year-old is the epitome of a confidence player and Nuno's decision to try and shoehorn him into various positions such as right wing-back in recent times has clearly had a hugely detrimental impact on his self-belief.

The Spain international is the sort of player who needs reassurance from a coach that he's the team's biggest attacking threat, and the decision to shove him into a position he wasn't familiar with - and that he ultimately couldn't perform in - looks to have taken its toll.

Traore's fragile confidence has held him back ever since he moved to England in 2015 and his two-year spell with Boro highlighted that fact.

Despite a few fleeting bursts of quality under Aitor Karanka, Traore struggled to cement his place in the Middlesbrough starting XI and Garry Monk's tenure threatened to complete derail his time on Teesside.

However, the arrival of Tony Pulis breathed life into his Boro career and in the space of a few months he'd transformed from someone who couldn't even get a game at the club to the best player in the Championship.

A run of five goals and eight assists in 17 league outings saw him being courted by top-flight teams all over the country, and after proving what he could do at Wolves there was talk of the Premier League champions shelling out £70m on him.

You don't just lose that sort of ability overnight. Confidence is a very fragile thing - especially for Premier League footballers who have their every move scrutinised. It just seems weird that players like Jesse Lingard are accepted to be confidence players who will eventually bounce back, yet Traore is 'just a sprinter' because he's fast.

Traore is much, much more than that - he can be an absolute world beater, he just needs managing correctly.