RYAN SHOTTON has described the part he is playing in helping Adama Traore fulfil his enormous potential, and claims the Spaniard is capable of hitting the highest heights possible in the game.

Traore has taken his performances to a new level under Tony Pulis and is showing the sort of ability that Barcelona felt he had in him when he was a teenager.

Since leaving Camp Nou, though, he has had a couple of difficult years at Aston Villa and Middlesbrough, during which he struggled to add substance to his obvious talent.

However, Pulis has found a way to get the best out of him in 2018 and labelled him “extraordinary” on the wing after his latest impressive display against Barnsley last weekend.

Shotton, playing at right-back, is enjoying having winger Traore in front of him and he has been left in no doubt about his ability – even if it means getting on his case in a bid to help him and the team progress.

“It seems the easiest job in the world having him in front of me, but actually it can be the hardest because I have to make sure he’s back with the team tactically,” said Shotton.

“When you’re on the manager’s side, the manager gets after him. On the far side it’s me trying to pull him back. He’s a sensation, give him the ball and I know he will get us 50 yards up the pitch and make a chance.

“It’s coming with age. A lot of people forget he’s only 22, because of how he’s built and how he is and how mature he looks.

“I didn’t know anything about him before I came. The lads were like, ‘listen, he’s quick’. I was like I’ve heard players are quick in the past, and then he just turned up and the first game I watched was Bolton.

“That Bolton game was one of the best he’d played but as soon as the manager came in I said that Tony is the kind of manager that will make or break somebody. If Adama buys into what we’re about he can go anywhere and you can see that.

“On my side I’m told ‘back him up but don’t you dare go past him’, if he needs to go back you’re there and if he loses it you can try to win it so we can play again. It makes my job so much easier.”

Traore scored the fourth goal of his Middlesbrough career against Barnsley, and all of those have arrived after Pulis replaced Garry Monk on Boxing Day. Not even compatriot Aitor Karanka, who signed him and rated him highly, could find a way to get the best out of him, albeit in the Premier League.

But the manner in which the 22-year-old can burst past his marker is a massive asset in itself, so the fact he has now proven he can hit the target and deliver good crosses is attracting even greater interest.

Traore is known to have a long list of Premier League clubs keeping tabs on his performances and Chelsea are known to have made contact with Middlesbrough in the past.

Having been regarded in the £15m bracket when he wasn’t delivering an end product to his game, though, his valuation is only rising and there will be no desire to sell him him on, particularly if promotion back to the top-flight can be achieved this summer.

Traore is not the only Middlesbrough player hitting top form of late, with Patrick Bamford’s goals crucial in lifting them into a play-off spot.

Bamford has climbed into the top ten scorers at the Riverside Stadium in its 23-year history with his recent five-goal blast on home turf.

He now has 19 goals at the Riverside and will have his sights set on surpassing leading Riverside scorer Mark Viduka, who scored 32 times on Teesside.

Bamford will be looking to overtake those above him first though. Fabrizio Ravanelli (25), Yakubu (24), Szilard Nemeth (23), Scott McDonald (21), Massimo Maccarone, Hamilton Ricard and Mikkel Beck (all 20) are all above him. Juninho, like Bamford, hit 19.