Barcelona have decided to turn the January loan signing of Adama Traore from Wolverhampton Wanderers into a permanent deal at the end of the season, according to Sport.
The 26-year-old winger wasn’t having a great season at Wolves and Barcelona’s decision to bring him in seemed a rather hopeful act, but he fitted in extremely well with the designs of Xavi Hernandez at the Camp Nou and started producing notable contribution straight away. He still hasn’t scored for the Catalan club, but he has four assists in six matches in all competitions so far.
Barcelona have the option to turn the loan into a permanent deal with Wolves having no say in it, but should they choose to trigger it, they would be obliged to pay a fee exceeding €30 million, which is something they would like to avoid if possible. To that end, they will enter a fresh round of negotiations with the Premier League side and try to talk the price down.
The idea of signing Traore was present with the La Liga giants last summer, but at the time, it seemed probable that Ousmane Dembele would be signing a new deal and Ansu Fati was expected to have much greater impact this season as well. However, the situation gradually changed and the deal to bring Traore in was agreed in December, with the player himself giving his consent during the Christmas holidays.
Traore is a product of Barcelona’s famous La Masia academy, which he left in 2015 to move to England. Before Wolves, he played for Aston Villa and Middlesbrough.
