Aston Villa have confirmed that Bertrand Traore has left the club to join Istanbul Basaksehir FK on loan for the rest of the season.
The 26-year-old has yet to feature this season and played a limited role last year too as injuries and competition for places have seen him fall down the pecking order under Steven Gerrard.
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As confirmed by the club on Monday, Traore has now joined Basaksehir on loan for the remainder of the current campaign, and so it’s another player moved on temporarily as we continue to trim the current squad.
Ultimately, it’s a deal that makes sense for all concerned. Traore will get a chance to play a more prominent role and get regular minutes to try and rediscover his best form in Turkey, while Villa cut the wage bill for the year, streamline the squad and have enough options in the final third to move forward without him.
With the likes of Philippe Coutinho, Emiliano Buendia and Leon Bailey ahead of him in Gerrard’s list of preferences thus far, it was always likely that Traore would spend the majority of this season on the bench and perhaps even struggle to be named in the matchday squad, such are the options and depth at Gerrard’s disposal.
In turn, it’s hoped that he has an injury-free and productive stint in Turkey, and at the end of that spell we’ll see whether or not he will get another chance at Villa or will look for a more permanent solution elsewhere.
Traore has bagged eight goals and provided seven assists in 48 appearances for Villa thus far, and it remains to be seen if he’ll be able to add to those respective tallies in the future.