ANDONI Iraola revealed Dango Ouattara’s grasp of the English language has “improved a lot” after he told the winger he “had to survive” rather than relying on a translator.

Burkinabe Ouattara arrived at Cherries from FC Lorient in January 2023, alongside fellow French speaker Hamed Traore.

In a bid to help the young duo settle in to life in England, Cherries brought their former player Mathieu Baudry in to act as a translator during the week and on matchdays.

But the Frenchman, now retired from football, is no longer with the club, having moved on to the next chapter of his life as a ‘financial agent’, helping young footballers away from the pitch.

Asked if there has been a language barrier to overcome between Spanish-speaking Iraola and Ouattara, or if the 22-year-old is now able to communicate more in English after a year at the club, Iraola told the Daily Echo: “He has been improving.

“One of the things we asked when we arrived was for Junior (Traore) and for Dango especially, not to be so dependent on the translator.

“We told them they have to survive, everyone has to improve their level of the language, because I think it is very useful for them, so they can relate much easier with their teammates especially.

“I think he has improved a lot, both of them have improved.

“They understand everything I think we are talking about and slowly, slowly they are speaking better, as all the foreigners are doing, starting from me.

“Every day we need to improve.”

Ouattara has recently returned from the Africa Cup of Nations, prior to which he was featuring for Cherries in an unfamiliar role at left-back.

He started three games in that position, with both Milos Kerkez and Lloyd Kelly unavailable, before being forced off with injury himself at Tottenham Hotspur on New Year’s Eve.

Asked when he considered Ouattara a left-back possibility, head coach Iraola admitted: “We didn’t consider him to start there until we had these issues with the injuries.

“I would be lying if I said otherwise!

“But it is true that sometimes in training we only had normally every day one specific left-back, which was Milos, because Lloyd was out for quite a lot of time.

“So sometimes someone else has to play there. Sometimes it is Tav (Marcus Tavernier), sometimes it is Dango.

“Dango has been training well when he has been in this position.

“I think he has the physical qualities to fulfil the requirements of the position and I think he improved from the first game against Forest.

“I think he knows he has to understand better the positional requirements, but he is improving really fast.”

Asked what Ouattara’s reaction was when he was first told he would be playing left-back, Iraola said: “It is difficult to read Dango! Normally his face doesn’t change too much.

“I don’t know what he was thinking, but he could see we were trying different things in training and probably he could think maybe it happens.”

Ouattara has made 35 competitive appearances for Cherries since his £20million move, scoring one goal and providing three assists.