Aston Villa are reportedly ready to offload Bertrand Traore in the summer transfer window after failing to sell him in January.
According to Football Insider, Aston Villa are prepared to listen to offers for injury-prone forward Bertrand Traore in the summer transfer window after failing to get him off their books last month.
Traore, a former Chelsea prospect, signed for Aston Villa in the summer of 2020, arriving from Ligue 1 outfit Lyon. The Midlands outfit spent £17 million for his signing, but it has not worked out as expected for the club or the player.
Traore enjoyed a fairly decent debut season with the Villans, scoring eight goals and registering seven assists from 38 matches in all competitions. However, due to injury problems, he has struggled to reproduce that form this season. The 26-year-old has featured just seven times across all competitions without directly contributing to a single goal.
Aston Villa were intent on offloading Traore in the January transfer window, along with two other out of favour stars in Trezeguet and Anwar El Ghazi. While Trezeguet and El Ghazi secured loan moves away from Villa Park, joining Istanbul Basaksehir and Everton respectively, Traore ended up staying put at the club.
His injury problems, coupled with the involvement in the Africa Cup of Nations, where he helped Burkina Faso reach the semi-finals, complicated the process for Villa to offload him successfully. After returning from the AFCON, the 26-year-old ex-Chelsea ace has picked up another fresh thigh injury, ruling him out of action for the time being.
Manager Steven Gerrard does not see him as a major part of his plans for the future and is willing to let go of him when the season is over. The report adds that Aston Villa would be open to selling him permanently or shipping him off on loan for the rest of the campaign.
Such a move would help the club create room in the squad to bring Philippe Coutinho on board permanently. The Brazilian has made a stunning impact since joining on loan from Barcelona in January.
Traore’s contract with Villa runs until the summer of 2024. It will be interesting to see how much they will demand for his services and if they can find suitors for the Burkinabe winger.
