Tiemoue Bakayoko has been out of sight and mind at Chelsea for some time, with his agent admitting a difficult situation has turned “sad”.
• Midfielder signed for Blues 2017
• Spent one campaign at Stamford Bridge
• No minutes on loan at AC Milan this season
WHAT HAPPENED? The France international midfielder completed a £40 million ($49m) transfer to west London in the summer of 2017 after becoming a Ligue 1 title winner for Monaco. Bakayoko has, however, played just one full season at Stamford Bridge – taking in 43 appearances – and has spent the last four years on loan at Monaco, Napoli and AC Milan. The latest of those deals – which was a two-year agreement – does include an option to buy, but the 28-year-old is yet to make a competitive appearance for the reigning Serie A champions in 2022-23.
WHAT THEY SAID: Marco Busiello has told Tuttomercato of the struggles being endured by Bakayoko: “It’s a situation that makes me sad because this transfer was strongly wanted. He’s joined many clubs on loan over the last few years, so he had to adapt to a new club every year. He was happy to join Milan on a two-year deal with an obligation to buy under certain conditions. However, it didn’t work for many reasons, injuries or good performances from other players. The current status is bad for all the parties and I am sorry about it.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE: Bakayoko would appear to have no future in Italy or England, with there still 18 months left to run on his contract at Chelsea. Quizzed on what happens next, Busiello added: “We’ll see, we’ll make our assessments with Milan and see what are the opportunities. He has another year with Chelsea after the current one, we’ll make our assessments together.”
WHAT NEXT? Chelsea have a number of other midfield options at their disposal at present, meaning that Bakayoko will likely have to find himself a permanent move to another club during the summer transfer window of 2023.
