Adama Traore should stay at Wolves, says Tony Pulis

The 24-year-old has been linked with mega-money moves after a fantastic season in gold and black.

It has been reported Liverpool have enquired about him, but the Express & Star understands that is not the case.

And former Albion chief Pulis, who managed Traore at Middlesbrough, believes he should remain at Molineux – as he looks to break into the Spain side.

“You meet people in life who are really, really good people, and Adama is a really good person,” Pulis told Stats Perform News.

“You hope and pray those people get everything out of life that they possibly can.

“He’s gone to Wolves – we didn’t want to get rid of him at Middlesbrough, but the only problem was the finances.

“He went to the right club, stepped up and has murdered it.

“I think he can only get better. His temperament and personality is first-class.

“His next step, I speak to him now and then, his next step is to get a place in the Spanish side.

“I’ll be quite content for him, and I said this to him, to settle down. He seems happy at Wolves.

“He’s playing under a manager that’s confident with him and gives the respect Adama needs.

“But Adama’s big challenge is seeing if he can get a place in the Spanish team and keep it.”

Wolves paid a then club-record £18million to bring Traore – who got his first senior Spain call-up earlier this term but had to pull out through injury – in from Middlesbrough in the summer of 2018.

The move did not initially pay off, though, with him struggling to make a real impression at first, only scoring one goal in 2018/19.

This term, however, Traore has been a constant menace to top-flight defences, coming up with six goals and 10 assists across all competitions.

A whopping 28 different players have been booked for fouling him this season as well.

“I think Adama always had the ability to play,” said Pulis.

“The big thing was his confidence. I think I probably caught him at the right time. He had gone and worked for a few managers who weren’t enamoured enough to play him on a regular basis.

“I obviously knew him as a West Brom manager watching (Aston) Villa, I watched him in the reserves a few times.

“His pace and balance was just extraordinary.

“Going to Middlesbrough, he wasn’t in the team when I got there but I wanted to make him a focal point of the team.

“We did that and the biggest thing with him is that he grew in confidence and he started to believe in himself.”

Traore has spoken glowingly several times about the impact Pulis had on his career.

And he has since developed a close relationship with Wolves boss Nuno.

Despite that difficult first campaign at Molineux, the Portuguese stuck by Traore and that faith has been repaid in spades.

Pulis insists Traore thrives on that belief, with the pair becoming ‘best friends’ at the Riverside and still keeping in touch now.

“I made him my best friend. He used to come in and make me a cup of coffee after lunch and we would sit down and watch videos,” added Pulis.

“He became a friend and he knew he’d be first pick on the team sheet.

“And the team understood what we could get from him and what we couldn’t.

“Having said that, as the season progressed, he learned the other side of the game (defensive) as well.”