Fair points, but he's their 3rd top scorer playing on the wing, not up top as a striker.
27 games, 8 goals, 5 assists. That's a goal or assist every other game. That's a great return on what they paid.
I hoped we would keep him in the summer but there we go.
Talent is there for sure. But coming directly from the Swedish league with the expectations (due to transfer sum paid etc.) was always going to be difficult.
It's was a "paying good money for potential"-investment a lot of clubs do and have a 3-5 year plan for the player. I think we thought he would be good enough to start every weekend in the PL...
I do not agree with selling him as I think we could have loaned him out and monitored him as we had another two years to go on his contract. Now, we have sold him on for less than we paid and Basel will surely be able to get good offers if he goes on like this. Anyone knows who is responsible for this transfer and what the plan was, if there was any? Could the club comment on it, transparency towards the supporters etc.? Would be interesting to hear.
As reports came on Benie I was very sceptical - just browse back and read my evaluation, its there. I seem to be right, even after giving him time as he is not great for Nantes either. Still young, but at the moment not there. Very strange why we would spend so much on such an unproven player that only had a few months of success in Sweden. As a club being promoted and playing in a way we do - both with Hecky and Wilder - its unbelievable. Even in the Swedish league you could see he had a lot of things to improve
Someone for the future, definitely, but we need to get a few lads in who will make us better right now, not towards the end of the season or next year. I'd be stunned if he would go in and deliver straight from the start. I sort of like the signing, but only if we sign more qualified and experienced players who we come in and deliver straight from the start of the season. He is one for the future - not even clocked up 40 senior games in the Swedish league (the 23rd in Europe, behind leagues from Cyprus, Czech Republic, Israel and Serbia). Very good and promising, but just want to put it into perspective in terms what to expect from him.
No, I think he will need some time to adjust. This is one for the future, but of course I hope I will be proven wrong and that he can go in and deliver from the get go.
With the above being said, from my perspective, I don't like to use the standard or ranking of a league to judge a player's quality or potential. Yes, it should be factored in, but there are so many more parameters to take into consideration.
In this particular case, many of you here have criticized the Swedish league (and now the Swiss) - Traoré's performances there were impressive in that context - yes. But at our level, he struggled. The reasoning that the quality/ranking of the league is what makes him look good and subsequently signed by us. I can see why some people would argue for this, but it's a lot more complex than that - and the main task of the scouting and recruitment team at Sheffield United is to look at the full picture, factor everything in and then make a decision based on all of this.
The interesting thing and probably the biggest challenge in scouting players is to evaluate how the player would fit into a new context and have the ability to adjust. A highly performing player in a weak league could adjust very quickly to a top European league - exactly the same way as a squad or fringe player from a poor league, who might be used in the wrong way, could do the same thing if utilized properly. The opposite could also be true - a dominating player in an equivalent league in terms of quality (or even higher ranked) will fail if used in the wrong way, played in the wrong system or just failing to adjust for other "soft" reasons.
I want to mentioned Yasin Ayari - not even a regular for AIK in the Swedish league, but signed by Brighton in 2023. They had done proper background checks and scouted him for a long time and therefore saw what he could add to their team and how he should be used. They attributes in him which they thought were interesting and could fit into their plan and strategy - obviously this paid off, not only with him, but the overall recruitment policy and program are well established in a top down approach. Ayari and Benie are basically the same age (02/03) - whilst Traoré was killing the Swedish league when Ayari was not considered a starter, Yasin is at a much better place now due to the proper red thread implemented at Brighton (a plan), allowing him to develop into a top player for them.
They had done their due diligence and knew exactly what they were doing and what type of player they signed and how they would use him in their system.
Another case would be Lucas Bergvall - doing well for Tottenham but the season before he was signed by them he only started 11 games at Djurgården. But if we are arguing that the Swedish league is weak and therefore players signed from there are shit, we need to rethink. Instead, have faith in our recruitment strategy, have a plan for any player signed and be patient. Also, be sure what type of player we are signing, why, and how we aim to use the player. This should obviously correlate with the club strategy and policy in terms of player recruitment which the manager is onboard with.
So - when we signed Traoré I commented on it and in hindsight, Im not surprised that he struggled. It was a big gamble and I felt that particular signing was not well scouted for US. A lot of other teams in other leagues would probably had a lot of use for him pretty much straight away but not us, at the time. A huge gamble and waste of money - but letting him go to Basel was probably even worse. Clearly a lack of plan which frustrates me. Buy a player that does not not really fit into the way we play, then sell him. Seem clueless to me. Once again, the scouting and due diligence must be done on each and every player and also has to follow the club's transfer and recruitment strategy in addition.
