With Ligue 1 now in full swing we look at how a young midfielder, like Reus in Germany, has been stealing the headlines with a number of eye-catching displays.
WhoScored.com's player of the month for August in France's top division is Auxerre's Alain Traore, and it isn't hard to see why.
The 22-year-old has begun the season in fine form, playing in defensive midfield and centre midfield, but thriving in an attacking role in behind lone striker Ben Sahar.
The Burkina Faso born midfielder broke into the side last year, making 20 appearances and stamping down a regular starting berth in the second half of the season. He scored an impressive 5 goals in that time and has gone on to prove what a goal threat he is having established himself as a mainstay thus far this season.
At just 22, Traore has already netted 7 international goals in just 15 appearances, but offers more to Auxerre than just an assured finish. On his way to a WhoScored rating of 7.9, Traore netted 5 goals in 4 games, scoring in each, including a brace (both screamers) and man of the match performance in the 4-1 win over Ajaccio last time out.
The last match saw him pick up a WhoScored rating of 9 due to an awesome all-round display. The African attempted 6 shots at goal with 3 on target. 1 of his goals was an inch perfect free-kick into the top corner for Auxerre's second before he curled in another effort from outside the box for his second and Auxerre's third. Not only was he a constant goal threat but also he had the presence of mind to lay on 4 goalscoring opportunities, none of which were taken, with a 79% pass accuracy.
He had more touches in the game than any other player (90) and proved an excellent range of passing, completing 6 out of 7 long balls, though only 1 of his 8 attempted crosses reached his target. A further 2 accurate through balls rounded off a supreme performance.
With 4 shots attempted per game over the season, Traore is not shy and is confident in front of goal, particularly from range. The next highest shots tally for Auxerre is 1.5 per game from striker Sahar. Traore has also been the side’s chief creator, and is desperately unlucky not to have picked up any assists having laid on 11 goalscoring chances (2.8 per game).
The youngster is at the centre of everything good about Auxerre's play. He has completed more passes than any other player with 43.8 per game, but needs to improve on a modest 74% accuracy. His relatively meagre score in terms of distribution can be attributed to the sort of passes that Traore attempts, completing 3 long balls, 1.5 crosses and 1 through ball per game, with no other player coming close in this sense at his club.
Despite an excellent attacking game, Traore also proves very helpful when it comes to tackling, with 2 per game the fourth best figure in the side. He has only managed 0.5 interceptions per game thus far and is no slouch defensively- he has only been dribbled past 0.3 times per game, the fewest of any regular starter for the French outfit.
Despite netting 5 of his side's 8 goals, Auxerre are sitting below mid-table in 12th. Without the Burkina Faso internationals strikes they would have lost a further two games after the midfielder netted comeback goals in decent results with Marseille and Bordeaux, though his goal on the opening day couldn't prevent Auxerre going down 3-1 to Montpellier, who sit top of the division.
