Adama Traore’s impeccable return performance at Camp Nou against Atletico Madrid on Sunday attracted the attention of Spanish media. They called Jordi Condom, the current sports director of the Belgian side Waasland-Beveren, who discovered Traore and brought him to Barcelona back in 2004/05 when Adama was only eight years old.Spaniard of Malian descent to return to Camp Nou”We were looking for players for the next season, and one day at a local club match, a kid caught our attention. He was standing next to the opposing goalkeeper who kicked the ball, but the boy ran so fast that he managed to pick it up before falling to the ground on the other side of the pitch!? We followed him the next period, he left an impression on us, and we brought him,” said Condom, who worked with Traore in the youth setups of Barca for two seasons.EXCLUSIVE One on one with Adama TraoreEven then, as per Condom, Adama showed the qualities that today form the backbone of his football game and style.”He had speed and strength and excelled in dribbles. It was not a classic one-on-one game, but he would push a long ball in front of him, run and leave rivals behind. He was unstoppable even then. It was impossible to catch him,” he continued. INTER – ROMATraore is one of the footballers with an enormous muscle mass in La Liga, and you may be surprised by the fact that he weighs “only” 86 kilos at 178 centimetres in height. We say only because it visually seems much more. The reason behind this is maybe the fact he engaged in training constantly as an eight-year-old.”When I trained him, I had to scold him to stop doing push-ups,” recalls Condom, and adds: “He is a player who needs space to play, and he can have them in Xavi’s Barca. He has already shown what he is capable of doing on his debut, and he is a very hard-working, persistent, engaged and calm guy,” he concluded.
