Bertrand Traore, Chelsea’s 17-year-old trialist, has made an impression on Jose Mourinho during the club’s pre-season tour of Asia and hopes to keep the player when they can offer him a professional contract at 18.
Traore won’t be turning 18 until September 6th so Chelsea will have to wait but Mourinho doesn’t envisage any problems with his signing and expects a work permit to be granted at the appropriate time.
“Traoré we would like to keep. Those are the rules in England and we have to accept them. We’ll have to wait until he becomes 18 to try to get the permit for him to stay in England. If it’s not possible we have to let him go on loan somewhere.
“For a 17-year-old boy, sooner or later, the committee has to give him a permit to play in England. If he’s playing for his country at the same time – one of the most important countries in African football – he’ll get his deserved permit. So no dramas with it. It’s fantastic for him to come here and play well for Chelsea.”
The Burkina Faso international has been in England on a student visa up until now and has already had a relationship with Chelsea for some time. As Mourinho says, because the player is an international already and will likely be a big part of the future setup and this all stands in his favour when the matter goes in front of an appeals board or committee.
Gary Cahill has said that Traore has not looked out of place amongst the senior players and although it’s still too early to tell, the signs are that he has a promising future ahead of him.
He’s scored two goals in three games which will have delighted Mourinho but his name is now in the public eye which could draw interest from other clubs, but the Portuguese manager has made it clear he wants to have the midfielder at Stamford Bridge next season and who could say no to that?
Source: Telegraph
He is material we need to keep!