Burkina Faso: Premier League Nations

Continuing our alphabetical world tour, next up is Burkina Faso. According to the Premier League website, just one Burkinabe has played in the Premier League, remember him?

First Player – Bertrand Traore (Chelsea; 2014-17)

One of the seemingly endless number of Chelsea prospects who ultimately became a revolving door of loan spells, Bertrand Traore joined Chelsea as a youth player in 2013, before officially joining as a senior player on January 1^st 2014, aged 18.

A day later, he joined Vitesse Arnhem on loan, spending the second half of 2013/14 and then the entirety of 2014/15 in Holland. He was eventually granted a work permit allowing him to play for Chelsea ahead of the 2015/16 campaign, but featured sparingly in what was a troubled season for the Blues.

Traore was loaned out to Ajax before leaving permanently in 2017, joining Lyon. He is still just 24 years of age.

Records

• Most Appearances – Bertrand Traore (10)
• First appearance – Bertrand Traore (CHELSEA 0-1 Bournemouth, December 5^th 2015)
• Most goals – Bertrand Traore (2)
• First goal – Bertrand Traore (CHELSEA 5-1 Newcastle, February 13^th 2016)

Trivia

• Bertrand Traore has scored nine goals in 54 international appearances, putting him 10^th in the Stallions’ all time goal scoring list at just 24 years of age.
• The last Premier League game to feature a Burkinabe was the final day of the 2015/16 season, when reigning Champions Chelsea held new champions Leicester City to a 1-1 draw. Traore started the game before being replaced by a young Tammy Abraham in the second half.
• Just two of Bertrand Traore’s Premier League appearances resulted in wins (4D, 4L).