Alex Smith, Bournemouth Daily Echo: Ouattara has something spectacular in his locker | OneFootball

New Brentford signing Dango Ouattara “has something spectacular in his locker”, says Alex Smith, senior sports journalist at the Bournemouth Daily Echo.

The forward recently completed a move from fellow Premier League side Bournemouth and could make his Bees debut against Aston Villa at Gtech Community Stadium on Saturday.

First of all, was Dango Ouattara expected to move on from Bournemouth this summer?

To be honest, I was a bit surprised when it all came out that he was looking to move on.

He played quite an important role in the Cherries side last season. He made 37 appearances across all competitions and was important in the 11-game unbeaten run in the middle of the season, so I was quite surprised when that came about.

He is still young and developing and I did see him playing quite a big role again this season. But if he was looking to move on and was not completely happy with the Cherries, they could not force him to stay.

Once it became clear he wanted to leave, it was a matter of time before he did.

How have the Bournemouth fans reacted to him leaving?

A lot of them have been disappointed because, like I said, he played quite a big role last season and is still young and developing.

At the same time, I think they are all quite pleased with the amount of money that the Cherries got for him.

It was a record fee for Brentford, so for the club to get that amount of money for him, I think they feel that they have got a good deal.

Ouattara was never a nailed-on starter for the Cherries, but seemed to do well when he did. Do you think he will develop with regular minutes?

I think so. He is quite a versatile player and, under Andoni Iraola, has been used in a number of different positions: he has played left-back and in his normal position on the left wing, but he also played through the middle at no.9 last season as well.

Iraola liked using him as a bit of a utility player, which I think is why he did not get as many starts as he might have done. I think he was seen as a bit of an option off the bench to fill in a couple of positions.

Some guaranteed minutes and more starts will inevitably lead to more consistency and help him to develop and grow as a player.

Where do you think his best position is?

Towards the end of last season when he went back to left wing, we saw him grow there and that certainly became his position, but he was very good as a number no.9.

He surprised a lot of people because he only went there when Evanilson and Enes Unal both picked up injuries and there were not any other options. He scored that hat-trick against Nottingham Forest, so he knows where the back of the net is. I felt, towards the end of last season, he had matured a bit.

One criticism of him previously was his decision-making in the final third. He would do the hard part and beat his man, then it would seem like he was a rabbit in headlights, and he would either blast a shot into row Z or try and cross and it just would not pay off.

I do feel like he was making better decisions towards the end of last season and was opting to pick out more sensible crosses, or only going for goal when he definitely had the opening. I am really excited to see how he develops.

What are Ouattara’s key attributes?

I would say pace and power first and foremost, and his ability to beat a man on the outside particularly is really good.

I do not feel he beats them with skill or trickery, it tends to be just knocking it past them and burning them with his pace.

He is also one of those players who has something spectacular in his locker. He is certainly an exciting player to watch and will be an exciting attacking signing.