TheCable

New Aston Villa signing, Adama Traore, has indicated he wants to commit his international future to Mali.

The 19-year-old, who signed a five-year deal at Villa Park from Barcelona for a fee reported to be around £7m, has represented Spain at under-16s, under-17s and under-19s levels.

BBC Sport reported that the Mali Football Federation have met with Traore who said he wanted to swap national allegiances to his parents’ homeland once his club future was secured.

His brother Mohamed, who plays for Spanish club Cordoba in their B team, has already played for Mali Under-23s this year.

But no official request has been to FIFA to request a change of allegiance.

Traore made four senior appearances for Barca, but the majority of his football has been with the Spanish giants’ B team, scoring eight times in 63 Segunda Division games.

And Villa coach Tim Sherwood is already salivating over his latest acquisition.

“He’s dynamic, very quick and a maverick type player – you never know what he’s going to do next and I mean that as a compliment,” Sherwood told BBC WM 95.6.

“He’s a huge asset for this club. He can hurt the opposition and I’m delighted to bring him here.”

Traore takes Villa’s new signings into double figures, joining Jordan Amavi, Jordan Ayew, Mark Bunn, Jose Angel Crespo, Rudy Gestede, Idrissa Gueye, Micah Richards, Scott Sinclair and Jordan Veretout.

“He comes from a very good academy with Barcelona and I’ve known him a long time,” Sherwood said.

“He makes his mind up when he gets the ball and those players are rare – there aren’t many players in the Premier League that can do that.

“We’re getting him at the midway part of his development. He’s not the finished article by a long way but he can certainly help us out in the short-term and in the future.”