Bertrand Traore has been backed to be an Aston Villa success by assistant boss John Terry after a brilliant goal on his debut.
Bertrand Traore has been backed to be an Aston Villa success by assistant boss John Terry after a brilliant goal on his debut.
Villa beat Bristol City to set up a Carabao Cup fourth-round tie with Stoke City next week.
Anwar El Ghazi put Villa ahead after good work by Keinan Davis and Traore hit a wonderful side-footed volley before Ollie Watkins added a third.
“It was important for him [Traore] to get off to a great start,” said Terry.
Traore – who was Terry’s team-mate at Chelsea in 2015-16 – joined Villa for £17m from French side Lyon last week.
“He hasn’t played in a while. So to get the goal and top it off was good,” Terry said.
“He was someone at Chelsea who was very hungry. He went away from the Premier League but he’s always had that desire to come back and prove himself.
“He’s got that opportunity now at Aston Villa and personally and professionally we’re delighted to have him.”
The Burkina Faso forward could take some of the pressure off Villa captain Jack Grealish, who was last season’s top scorer in the Premier League with eight.
“He can isolate people in one-on-one situations and we have that on the other side with Jack as well,” said Terry.
“That might free Jack up as well if we can play very quickly during games.”
Dean Smith’s side, who lost last season’s final to Manchester City, were good value for their win.
They could have won by more and should have taken the lead earlier. Davis and El Ghazi were both denied by a good Max O’Leary double save in the first half.
City did have some chances, with Antoine Semenyo’s powerful shot saved by Jed Steer.
City boss Dean Holden said: “We gave ourselves a mountain to climb with those two goals in the first 15 minutes.
“We had a big chance at 2-0 and if that goes in who knows? These are the fine margins in these type of games.
“My full focus now is on Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday and I’m not going to get too down with this.”
