Late deal may have Notts County chasing Alassana Jatta repeat | OneFootball

The Magpies signed Mai Traore from Norwegian top flight side Frederikstad on deadline day, in a deal which resembles the one for Alassana Jatta.

Notts County once again provided a shock on deadline day of the January transfer window, when they announced the signing of striker Mai Traore from Norwegian Eliteserien side Frederikstad for an undisclosed fee.

The 25-year-old became Notts’ final addition of the winter window when the signing was announced on Monday morning, and will join the club when he receives international clearance and a UK Visa.

Although Traore is a massive unknown to Notts fans and English football fans in general, the Magpies have had major success when looking into the European market in recent years, with the likes of Ruben Rodrigues and Alassana Jatta coming in and impressing at Meadow Lane.

The Traore deal is surprisingly resemblant of last year’s deadline day deal to bring Jatta to the club and, given the impact the Gambian frontman has had at Notts, Stuart Maynard and the board will surely be hoping Traore can have a similar impact.

Traore arrives as an unknown quantity in English football

Having never played in England before, it’s very hard to say what attributes and qualities Traore will be capable of bringing to Meadow Lane.

The Guinean notched two goals and two assists from 13 league games for Frederikstad last season. The Norwegian football season spans from March to November, and the 2024 campaign was Traore’s fourth in the country’s top flight.

His time in the Eliteserien has also brought spells with Tromsø and Viking FK, where Traore briefly tasted experience of a European competition in 2022, scoring twice from five appearances in the UEFA Conference League.

Prior to his time in Norway, Traore got his big break in Europe with Swedish lower league side Vasalunds IF.

He initially joined Vasalunds as a 19-year-old back in 2017 and helped them to promotion to the second tier in 2020 with 23 goals from 29 league games.

It was that form that first attracted Viking, and Traore’s career has really taken off since his switch to Norway.

He now has over 60 appearances to his name in the Eliteserien and the move to Notts will surely come as an exciting new challenge for the frontman.

Notts will be hoping Traore can have a similar impact to Jatta

Over the course of the last year, Jatta has become increasingly important to Notts, to the point where he is now arguably one of the most vital players in the squad.

The striker is already on 13 league goals for the season, having ended last term with five goals and two assists from just 10 league games.

He has become massively important to Notts for his ability to both hold the ball up and bring others into play, but also for the way he is capable of running in behind opposition defences.

His value to Notts was highlighted this January, when Championship strugglers Plymouth Argyle had a bid of £750,000 rejected by Notts for the Gambian.

There are several similarities between the deals to bring Jatta and Traore to England. Both were signed on deadline day of the January transfer window, with the signings coming out of the blue to a large extent.

Both also came from Scandinavian leagues, which have seen their reputation for developing players for English football grow substantially in recent years.

Despite the similarities though, it is imperative that the Notts fanbase tempers expectations a little and allows Traore to ease into life at Meadow Lane. It’s easy to forget that when Jatta joined, he needed several games before he started to look capable of adapting to English football and it’s important that the same logic is applied to Traore.

Given the stylistic differences across leagues in different countries, it’s important that patience is applied to signings from foreign countries, as it may take some time for them to become the player the club think they signed.

Where the Notts board are concerned, it is undoubtedly a gamble to spend a fee on a player with no track record whatsoever in English football. However, they are always forward thinking in their approach to transfers and their data-heavy methods have turned out several stars so far.

As a result of this, there is no reason not to trust that the Magpies may well have unearthed another hidden gem in Traore, although only time will tell.