Capping off an initial two-year stint at Melbourne Victory after signing from Gold Coast with a win in the Victory Medal in 2014, Traoré departed AAMI Park for Europe; making stops in Portugal, Switzerland and Turkey before returning to Melbourne ahead of the 2019/20 A-League season.

Starting at left-back for Victory in the season-opening Melbourne Derby, the defender put in a 75-minute shift before departing as a late substitute.

Having become an Ivorian international since he departed Australia, Traoré today said he had evolved as both a player and as a person while on his European odyssey and was now looking to continue that growth at Victory.

“Before leaving, I learned a lot already and playing in Europe for five years, I think 100 per cent it helps you as a human being and as a player,” he said. “It helps you to take things in a different way.

“And I believe coming back again, to a wonderful country, a wonderful club and great people, you can only learn.

“There is always room to improve, I think it is also important for me to listen to people, great people around the club and I believe that I will learn a lot.

“For me, it’s the best club in the league and the organisation, the people, everyone at the club, they are unbelievable. That makes me very happy to be around this team.”

The 29-year-old, however, is not unique in his experiencing growth in the five years since his departure for Portuguese side Vitória de Guimarães with the A-League landscape shifting dramatically in his absence.

On a Victory level, the most obvious change is the departure of long-time club stalwart Kevin Muscat from the organisation and the entrance of Marco Kurz as Head Coach.

“Many things have changed since I was here,” said Traoré.

“The league has grown and the teams are better than when I was here; which is good for the league – better players coming in. It means the league is growing.

“The coach, the culture and the system the coach wants to play, everything is new to us and it’s up to us to get into it and try to do the best we can for the team and for the fans.

“[Kurz is] a great coach – a great human being. That’s important in every aspect. What he’s trying to improve on, I think it will be very good in both the short and the long term for the club.

“I think in the end everyone will be happy.”

Traoré is set to celebrate his 50th A-League game in a Victory shirt on Friday night when he and his teammates welcome Markus Babbel’s Western Sydney Wanderers to Marvel Stadium.

The Wanderers will be looking to make it back-to-back wins to open the season after downing Central Coast Mariners 2-1 in their return to Wanderland in the campaign’s opening round.

Traoré, however, wasn’t dwelling on his achievement; insisting that his focus was first and foremost on securing Victory its first win of the 2019/20 campaign – and making this milestone the first of many.

“We’ve been preparing since Monday,” he said. “So, we prepare well and I hope we will win… that will be a good bonus for me.

“It’s important to think about ourselves, what we are doing and the rest will take care of itself. For me, it doesn't matter who we play, I think we have to be 100 per cent focused on ourselves and what we have to do.

“I believe if we listen to the coach and put in what he wants [us] to do, there is no reason we don't get the good result.

“It’s important to play 50 games for this club and I don’t want to stop there; I want to play more games.”