Karanka demands more from Boro starlet Traore

Adama Traore might have captured the fans’ imagination at the Riverside but boss Aitor Karanka has warned that he will have to improve his all-round game if he wants to make a real impact on Teesside.

In Boro’s 1-0 home defeat to Chelsea on Sunday the 20-year-old winger managed 13 attempted dribbles, 12 of which were completed – the first man to do so since Eden Hazard in 2011.

The former Barcelona man also who clocked the ninth highest speed in Premier League history at nearly 35km/h.

Unsurprisingly that pace and willingness to take on defenders has made him a hit, but Karanka wants more from the youngster, who joined from Aston Villa over the summer – having joined them in 2015 from the Catalan giants.

(Neville Williams/Aston Villa FC via Getty Images)

“It’s normal that everybody is excited when he has the ball, but he has the ball three or four minutes in one game and the rest of the game is 87 minutes, so we have to be careful,” he said.

“He is doing really well, he is improving a lot, but he has much more to improve and much more to learn. Because he’s young, he can [improve] and, going in this way, for sure he can be a big, big player.”