New Leeds United signing Daniel James has more to his game than Wolves' Adama Traore, according to presenter Joe Wainman.

What happened with James and Traore this summer?

Leeds were looking to sign a winger through the summer, and they were reportedly eyeing up a move for Traore at one point.

They turned their attention to James in the closing stages of the transfer window, though, and managed to wrap up a deal for the 23-year-old on Deadline Day.

Meanwhile, Traore was also linked with Tottenham but ended up staying at Molineux after Wolves set their asking price at £50m for the player on the final day of the window.

GIVEMESPORT giveaway

ENTER GIVEAWAY

What has Joe Wainman said about James and Traore?

Given that James and Traore were both targets for Leeds this summer, there is an obvious link between the pair. 

However, Wainman feels that is unfair on the former Manchester United man, claiming that James' skill set is superior to Traore's.

He told GIVEMESPORT: “I really, really don’t rate Adama Traore. I think maybe you could say that they are similar but if you look back at Dan James’ early time at Swansea and even times at Manchester United – there was an assist against Liverpool that he played in for Rashford which was a beauty.

“And I think there might be work needed there but I think where Adama is at in his career, I think maybe it’s a bit lazy to make that link. I think Dan James, there’s more there than what Adama gives you.

“Every time I watch Adama he’s really frustrating and I don’t get the thing around him because ‘yes, you can run with the ball’ but that’s it, and I think there’s more to Dan James’ game than that.”

Will Arteta be sacked soon?! Find out all the latest on The Football Terrace...

Is James better than Traore?

It is easy to understand why Wainman is not convinced by Traore given that the Spanish international only managed to register one more goal contribution than James in the Premier League last season despite making 37 appearances to his counterpart's 15. This suggests that the Wolves speedster can be wasteful in the final third.

Delving into the numbers a little deeper, though, it seems that Traore was actually a little unfortunate to finish with only three assists to his name in 2020/21. As per WhoScored, he made 1.5 key passes per game, whereas James completed just 0.7 per match.

This statistic highlights how Traore is capable of creating chances regularly, and has perhaps been the victim of poor finishing at Wolves over the past 12 months. Therefore, it appears that Wainman was a little harsh in his judgement of Traore when he argued that the 25-year-old is only effective at running with the ball.