Frederic Kanoute has revealed he will be meeting with Wolverhampton Wanderers wing-back Adama Traore in an effort to convince him to play for Mali.
The versatile player was born in Spain to Malian parents and has featured for the Spanish youth team, however, given he has not played a competitive game for the senior side he is still eligible to switch his allegiance to represent the West Africans.
Early in January, Traore revealed he is yet to make a decision on his international future and 2007 African footballer of the year Kanoute, is hoping to influence the wing-back to play for the Eagles.
"The Mali FA has called me to say 'please, please go and see him because you speak perfect Spanish so you can convince him' and so on," Kanoute told BBC Sport.
"If he is listening to me right now - I am heading your way Adama.
"Honestly, I would like him to [play for Mali] but I will tell him the truth that it is obviously going to be a struggle and that it is not going to be so comfortable to play for an African national team.
"But the people give you back so much and he has the opportunity to make something big with a very, very talented generation that we have in Mali so I will try to convince him."
Mali are currently joint-leaders in Group A, will take on Namibia in their 2021 Africa Cup of Nation qualifiers this month.
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