Dave Edwards believes Adama Traore suffered after Matt Doherty left the club in 2020, as he talked up the 31-year-old’s unpredictability.
Doherty officially re-signed for Wolves last week, after becoming a free agent earlier this summer.
Doherty had been at Atletico Madrid after leaving Tottenham Hotspur, but made just a couple of appearances.
Sporting director Matt Hobbs recently said that he bumped into Doherty on a golf course and had a chat with him about a potential return to Molineux.
The proposal was then put to Julen Lopetegui, who gave the move the green light.
Apparently, he was a player Lopetegui was actually quite a fan of when he almost became Wolves manager six years ago.
Now Doherty’s back, and Edwards reckons it’s a great signing by the club. He also believes his exit in 2020 actually really harmed Traore.
Adama Traore, according to Dave Edwards, was harmed by Matt Doherty’s departure in 2020.
Edwards wrote about Doherty in a column for the Express & Star recently, and said that he thought it was a really good move by the club.
And the former Molineux midfielder has been speaking a bit more in depth about the Republic of Ireland international on the Wolves Weekly podcast.
He talked up Doherty’s energy and unpredictability, and actually suggested that Adama Traore – who left Wolves earlier this summer after his contract finished – struggled after the wing-back left in 2020.
He said: “Although people may be thinking he’s come in just to back up Nelson Semedo, I’m pretty sure Doc will be eyeing up one of those full-back positions as his own, once he gets his foot in.
“He was absolutely unbelievable for Wolves, in particular those last two or three years, when they were playing those wing-back roles under Nuno – he was sensational.
“His unpredictability is something I think Wolves have really missed. A nightmare for the opposition to pick up. there’s not many full-backs who will run on the inside like he does.
“I felt the one person who really suffered when Doc left was Adama Traore. Doc would make that run from out to in, into the heart of the pitch and the full-back or the winger would have to follow Doc. That would give Traore enough time then to pick up the ball out wide and get running at people.
“I think those two dovetailed really well and I think Adama wasn’t quite the same without Doc. I think he really helped his performances.”
Edwards also proceeded to call Doherty very underrated in terms of his one-vs-one defending.
Traore’s assertion is most likely correct, according to Edwards.
It is difficult to argue against this.
Doherty and Traore were at one point one of the scariest right sides in the Premier League.
Doherty was indeed very difficult to pick up when playing in that right wing-back role, and it did cause the opposition some confusion.
Undoubtedly, Traore’s best form for Wolves came in his first couple of seasons at the club rather than his last couple.
That was when he had Doherty supporting him, and when Raul Jimenez was in the form of his life.
Who knows if things could have panned out differently had Wanderers never sold Doherty.
Certainly, Nelson Semedo makes that out-to-in run far less than Doherty.
