The Blues announced the signing of Bertrand Traore earlier this month, who is all set to enter the Chelsea youth academy and embark on this new phase of his footballing education. He earned a trial at the London outfit and grabbed the opportunity with both hands, as he managed to impress the youth academy coaches, who saw a certain spark in him and decided to add him to their setup.

The teenager hails from the lesser known regions of the African continent, from the country of Burkina Faso. Prior to his trial at Chelsea, he was plying his trade at French outfit Auxerre, where he was creating some waves due to his performances.

Such have been the reviews that he was called up for national team duty at a very tender age, and at just 17, he has already played 10 times for Burkina Faso’s first-team. There is no denying that Traore possesses that talent which is required to make it big, but it will also take a lot of support from the staff at Chelsea to make him feel at home and to nurture a mere youngster who is miles away from his homeland and from his loved ones.

One person who is confident that Traore will pass through this testing time for him with flying colors is his national team coach Paul Put. ESPNFC report Put instilling his full confidence in the midfielder as he was quoted as saying, “I think it is one of the greatest stories that we have in Burkina Faso,”

“He is one of the future, but is already one of the greatest players that Burkino Faso has. I think in the future he has the potential to play regularly for Chelsea. He has something that I haven’t seen in a lot of players, he has something special.”

“He is at a difficult age now, living in a different country away from his parents, so it’s very important that the people around him help him to get on the right track. I cannot see what happens behind the scenes but he has all the abilities to able to make it at Chelsea.”

There is a lot riding on Traore’s tender shoulders already, as he has the full backing of his coach who has shown confidence in his potential. Now whether he will justify Put’s confidence, is something which we will see only in the coming few years.