TOTT Bertrand Traore - discard price gem

Today, we'll be looking at the AFCON TOTT Bertrand Traore. The Burkina Faso and Ajax winger was fantastic throughout the African Cup of Nations, and played a part in Burkina Faso's impressive 3rd place finish. He's one of Europe's more talented youngsters, and is currently spending the season at Ajax, on loan from Chelsea.

Traore's TOTT card is very well-rounded for an 81-rated card - he has 80+ pace, dribbling, shooting and passing, 76 physical, 4* skills, and the longshot taker trait. He's received a significant boost from his regular card, with a +6 boost to his overall rating, +5 shooting, +8 passing, +5 dribbling and physical, and +2 pace.

The card has some decent IG stats - his 87 agility, 88 ball control, 81 long shots and 76 strength are definitely stand-out stats.

FUTBIN

I used the Hawk chemistry style on Traore, and used him as a super-sub ST in my WL team in three runs through the daily knockout tournaments. On 6 chemistry, his pace, shooting and physical stats receive a slight boost:

FUTBIN

Thanks to the release of the Winter OTW cards, and the numerous lightning rounds over the course of the week, Traore sells for just above discard - I picked him up for 9,900 coins (he discards for 9,882).

Here are my stats with TOTT Traore:

Price: 9,900 coins

Games; 12 (all substitute appearances, usually around the 60 minute mark)

Goals: 5

Assists: 3

Chemistry Style: Hawk

While those stats may not look very impressive at first glance, it's important to remember that Traore only plays around 30 minutes each game. That works out to 8 goal contributions in 360 minutes, which is far more impressive.

Let's get into the stat-by-stat review.

Pace: 9/10

Traore lives up to his 87 pace in game - by the time he comes onto the pitch, the opposition defenders are exhausted, and his pace causes a lot of problems. His acceleration is fantastic, allowing him to hit his top speed instantly. He's not the fastest player out there, but he is more than fast enough to burst away from players and break through defensive lines. He'll still get caught up to by fast full-backs, but his decent physicality means they can't trouble him too much.

As a super-sub, is pace is deadly - he can terrorize already exhausted opposition defenses, and create openings for either himself or other players on the team.

Shooting: 8/10

His shooting is surprisingly good. His long shots were very impressive - he scored two bangers for me from over 30 yards out, and hit the target several more times. His finishing inside the box was decent - he always hit the target, but wasn't able to put the ball into far corners. His finesse shots were very effective, and he hit the post several times in the games I used him. His volleys were consistent - he scored an incredible volley from the edge of the box, and he hit the target with one or two more.

Passing: 8/10

His passing is great for an 81-rated player. He has good vision and short passing, allowing him to consistently play good through-balls to the other striker. His long passing isn't anything spectacular, but it did the job, allowing him to switch the play or play a ball over the back line. I didn't take a free-kick with him, but based on how good his long shots were, I'm sure they would be good too. His crossing was very good - one of his assists came from a cross to CR7 in the dying moments of a game.

Dribbling: 9/10

He felt great on the ball, far better than the 84 stat on his card. He has incredible agility, ball control and dribbling, as well as decent reactions and balance, making him an incredible skilled and responsive dribbler. His 4* skills were an important part of this card, and he executed the skills perfectly. His first touch is mostly reliable, and the ball sticks to his feet as he tears through defenses. The only issue I had with the dribbling was that his balance stat felt a little lower than his stats would suggest - he got knocked over quite a lot.

Defending: N/A

I didn't rely on his to defend, and he didn't put in any game-changing tackles. His heading accuracy was quite poor, but I didn't use him as a target man.

Physical: 8/10

He has over 70 in all his physical stats, and this is an important part of why the card is such an effective super sub. He feels stronger in game, and his good aggression means he wins a lot of 50-50 challenges against far stronger players. His stamina wasn't a problem for me, and as a super sub, he wasn't too reliant on his stamina. His jumping was relatively decent, allowing him to win a lot of clearances and goal kicks.

Summary:

Traore isn't a game changer, and at just 10K, I didn't expect him to be. He's an extremely effective super-sub, and played an important part in the fact that I won all three of the daily tournaments I played in. His pace, power and technique are deadly at the end of games, and he can terrorize defenders.

He's not the easiest to fit into a team, and that plays into why his price is so low. But for 10K, you'll be hard pressed to find a player as good as him - if he was in the Premier League, this card would be at least twice as expensive.

Overall, he's a very good player for the price, and someone I definitely will be keeping my club for the rest of FIFA 17. Pick him up while he’s cheap, and if you don’t like him, you can discard him for a loss of 100 coins.