Nuno Espirito Santo wanted to sign Wolves winger Adama Traore when he was in negotiations to become Crystal Palace's manager, according to journalist Dean Jones.
What has Dean Jones said about Nuno's admiration for Traore?
Nuno was heavily linked with the Palace job earlier this summer, and Jones told The Football Terrace that he was desperate to bring Traore to Selhurst Park at the time.
Jones said: “When Nuno was in talks with Crystal Palace, he said to Crystal Palace as part of his negotiations when coming in: ‘I want Adama Traore. So go buy Adama Traore and we’ll get this deal done'.
“Adama Traore is £40m and for Crystal Palace to go and spend £40m on a player – they’ve kind of got a few players like him already – it didn’t really make sense for them but they were like ‘ok, we’re happy to look into that, let’s get the deal done for you and then we’ll proceed’.
“From what I’m told he was like: ‘no, I want the Adama deal done and then I’ll come'. They’re like, ‘no, we’re not going to sign a player before you’ve come into the club.’”
To hear everything that Jones said about Nuno wanting Traore at Palace, listen to the video below...
Were Palace right to hold off on signing Traore?
Certainly in hindsight, it seems that they were. Nuno ended up not agreeing terms with Palace, and has since taken over at Tottenham instead.
If Palace had signed Traore, they could have been left with an expensive player in completely new surroundings with a manager who may have needed time to get the best out of the forward. This would have been far from an ideal scenario for the south London side.
Was this the reason that Nuno's move to Palace fell through?
It may have played a part but there were also other factors that led to Nuno and Palace going their separate ways.
The size of Nuno's coaching staff was reportedly an issue for Palace, with the Portuguese manager demanding that he brought a large entourage with him to the club.
In the end, talks broke down, and Palace moved on to appoint Patrick Vieira as their new manager.
Is Traore set to move elsewhere now?
It seems that he could be.
Nuno is clearly a fan of Traore's, and he now wants to bring the 25-year-old to Tottenham in the final week of the transfer window.
Spurs are reportedly in negotiations with Wolves as they try to wrap up a deal for the Spanish attacker.