The inside story of Adama Traore's Wolves stand-off as Barcelona rival Tottenham for transfer

It’s late July 2019 and Adama Traore is seated alongside Nuno Espirito Santo at a table in Belfast.

Wolves are preparing to begin their Europa League qualifying campaign against Northern Irish minnows Crusaders and Traore is ready to take centre stage.

At the time Traore was an enigma. He’d just finished his first season at Wolves with one goal and one assist in 29 Premier League games, albeit 21 of those appearances came as a substitute.

Yet he was still the most talked about Wolves player and dominated discussions across the Premier League.

Traore and Nuno, Wolves’ head coach at the time, would go on to speak about numerous topics during that press conference, including the Spaniard’s transition from free-spirited winger to regimented wing-back.

The ex-Barcelona wide man spoke softly and politely, awkwardly praising his listening manager for giving him the confidence to take on a new position.

It wasn’t something Traore had envisaged when he became Wolves’ £18million record signing the previous summer. But the more he thought about it, the more it made sense.

As a wing-back Traore would be able to receive the ball facing the opposition’s goal, enabling him to face up his opponents before embarking on one of his trademark sprints.

The position also provided him with the entire right flank to himself. Regular watchers of Traore will agree that an overlapping full-back works to his detriment rather than his benefit.

It was the perfect 'solution' - as Nuno would put it - to cover the loss of Matt Doherty to injury. Wolves’ left-sider Jonny Castro Otto was more defensively minded so Traore was given a tiny bit more freedom than Nuno usually afforded his wing-backs.

Nuno wasn’t the first coach to spot Traore’s