Chelsea sign teenage Burkina Faso midfielder Bertrand Traore

Bertrand Traore completed his move to Chelsea today (Wednesday) and immediately sat down with the official website to discuss the transfer. 

The 18-year-old agreed to sign a four-and-a-half year contract with the club back in October, and with the opening of the January transfer window, he makes the switch from Association Jeunes Espoirs De Bobo-Dioulasso in his native Burkina Faso. 

Traore is a full international having made his debut in September 2011 a few days before his 16th birthday, and he made one substitute appearance at the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations. An attacking midfielder, Traore was taken as a trialist on Chelsea's tour of Asia in the summer and played a part in all three games, scoring in Malaysia and in Indonesia. 

"It was a good experience with all the senior players and I learned a lot from them," he said of his experience of the tour.
"I was very proud, so it was a dream for me to be there every day and playing games."Traore was part of the Burkina Faso squad for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea, making one appearance as a substitute."Now I'm not scared of big games," he added. "I feel very comfortable."His elder brother Alain, who plays for French side Lorient, is a key player for Burkina Faso and had a trial at Manchester United when he was a teenager.