#2 Bertrand Traore
Bertrand Traore is a 21-year-old striker born in Burkina Faso and officially signed for Chelsea in 2013, but had played some friendlies for the academy way back in 2010. He was a young prodigy and he made his senior debut for his national team at the age of 15.
He got loaned out to Vitesse midway through the 2013-2014 season and returned to Chelsea at the start of 2015-2016 after a fruitful spell. Although last season was a disaster for Chelsea, it was personally a good season for Traore as he made his debut for Chelsea and went on to make 10 Premier League appearances scoring 2 goals in the process.
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He was just as surprised as everyone else when Chelsea announced his loan deal with Ajax and also publicly showed his anger about being loaned out in a press conference. Although this loan spell hasn’t been the greatest for him, he has shown glimpses of why he is so highly rated at Stamford Bridge when he scored a wonder goal for Ajax at the start of the season.
He recently guided Burkina Faso to a commendable run to the semi-finals of the African Cup of Nations, but was knocked out by Egypt on penalties. Traore is a player who can also be deployed on the wings and will be very useful for Chelsea next season because he can provide cover for Costa and also for the wingers.
