After several loan spells across various European leagues, Ivory Coast international Hamed Junior Traore has joined French Giants Marseille in Ligue 1. The fee is rumoured to be £6.4M, nearly £20M less than what Cherries signed him for in January 2023.
Attacking midfielder Hamed Junior Traore has left AFC Bournemouth to join Marseille, to put an end to what has been a very up and down 3 and a half year spell on the South Coast for the Ivory Coast international.
In his time at AFCB, Traore made just 14 competitive appearances, notching 1 goal and 1 assist. This lack of gametime was courtesy of Traore suffering from different illnesses, injuries and also spending a large chunk of his time at Bournemouth on loan at other clubs.
The 26 year old always impressed whenever he did manage to get minutes in red and black, however when Gary O'Neil got sacked for Andoni Iraola in 2023, it was made clear from the get go that Traore was not the type of profile that Iraola needed in his system.
Action Images via Reuters/Matthew ChildsAs mentioned previously, when Traore joined AFC Bournemouth from Sassuolo, plenty of fans and media outlets expected him to hit the ground running and set the Premier League alight. However, despite showing glimpses of promise in his first 7 games, 2 foot injuries meant he could no longer play for the rest of the 22/23 season.
It has seemed the case with Traore is that he never had a fixed position where you could say he is at his best, When you think of players who have flourished the most at AFCB (Scott, Rayan, Huijsen, Semenyo etc), they have all either already had, or developed a position in the starting XI that they could call their own.
Traore was technically good enough to play as a 10, with moments of flair in the 3-1 loss away at Liverpool (one of Iraola's first games) coming to mind. On the contrary, he misses the stamina, overall intensity and consistency to play in that role at the highest level.
Creative commons images - @HappiraphaelWhenever Traore has played in other top European Leagues, especially the Serie A, that seems to suit his play style more. In most divisions outside of the Premier League, you have a lot more time on the ball and players who are better technically can really express themselves.
Despite there not being any rumours or confirmation of a future sell on percentage as part of Traore joining Marseille, that would seem to make sense, especially as the French side bought Traore for such a small sum of money comparatively to what he was originally bought for.
If Traore can reach the heights that he did when he made his Cherries debut away at Wolves in 2023, there is no doubt that he will go on to have a stellar career, under the assumption that he can stay fit and work his way back into the Ivory Coast international setup.
Creative commons images - @Bex Walton