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Hamed Traoré has provided serviceable performances since being signed by Napoli in January. If he keeps it up, the Azzurri will likely pick up their €25M option to buy to redeem him from Bournemouth, Calciomercato informs.

The midfielder had a delayed start since he had dealt with malaria before joining and needed to work on his conditioning. But he has become a regular starter after a couple of weeks, featuring more than Piotr Zielinski. He’s being phased out since he’ll move to Inter in the summer.

Traoré, like most of his teammates, has fared better since Francesco Calzona took over Napoli. He has gotten the nod in three of the last five matches. He has yet to contribute to a goal. However, he has been active offensively and hasn’t been a problem in the passive phase.

The Ivorian benefitted from Jens Cajuste’s suffering a thigh injury. The Partenopei don’t have many more options in his position. The choice to go with him over Zielinski in the crunch game versus Juventus was telling about the status he has already conquered.

Our Take on Napoli and Hamed Traoré

Things have gone better than expected since the deck was stacked against him when he arrived due to poor conditioning, little playing time in the Premier League, and a dubious tactical fit. But the coaching change made them more aggressive and possession-oriented, making deploying him as a box-to-box is more sustainable. He’s been okay but not yet superb enough to make such a sizeable investment a foregone conclusion.

This article first appeared on The Cult of Calcio and was syndicated with permission.

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