Despite making key contributions to a number of goals this season, and bagging in the Emirates FA Cup, Traore was without an official goal or assist in the Premier League until recently, but that has completely changed now, with the Spaniard directly involved in goals in Wolves’ last three. After assisting Leander Dendoncker against West Ham United, Traore bagged himself in dramatic circumstances at Fulham and set up Willian Jose for the winner last weekend. Now, with six games remaining, the 25-year-old is focused on continuing the contribute and help the team finish the campaign strongly.
On creating chances regularly
“If you see the numbers, I’ve created more chances this year than the last, even if last year I had better numbers than this year. This is football, it happens, and most of the time you create a lot of chances and the ball doesn’t want to go in, but you have to keep working. The last three games I started getting numbers again and this is how I want to work.
“Sometimes the final end didn’t come, so it’s about keeping working, focused, improving, and seeing what I can improve, not only inside the pitch, but outside the pitch. Now, in games, the results are coming.”
On growing as a player
“I’ve been playing different positions this season, I started at wing-back, then striker and winger, and even if I have the best season of my life, I will tell you I’m not happy. It doesn’t matter how the season goes, my mentality is to grow every day, be better every day.
“I never will be 100 per cent happy, it doesn’t matter the situation now, how good or bad, my mentality is to grow like a player and have better numbers, play better and be better every day.”
On Wolves’ season so far
“Of course, we wish to be as high as we can, but this season has been difficult for everyone, also, for us, because we had different injuries, strange injuries, not normal injuries like Raul [Jimenez]. We adapted, we worked on it and we keep fighting. I think the mentality of the team is good, whatever is the team in front us, we fight until the end.”
On finding solutions
“It doesn’t matter what situation we have inside of the game, there’s been many games where we didn’t start the best, but after we turned it around and won the game. We fight until the end and this has to be the mentality for us, because sometimes things don’t go the way you want and you have to keep fighting.”
— Wolves (@Wolves) April 20, 2021
On using baby oil on his arms
“I think the baby oil started because people were grabbing my shoulder, to prevent injury is the oil, so if they grab my arms, they slip and also if I’m going with higher speed, it’s not possible to grab me and that prevented the injury as well.
“This is the mentality of the doctor, the idea, he said, ‘Let’s try that’ and in the first game it worked and now we keep working it.
“The Vaseline stays more in my skin, if you only put the oil, and everyone has different skin, my skin soaks the oil very quick, so putting the Vaseline, it stays longer on my arms and is the main reason.”
