It was already being speculated about last week, but Tiemoué Bakayoko’s future at Milan beyond the current season is in question after a poor start to his time there.
Seen as the ideal rotation option for Franck Kessie throughout the season, and sometimes his partner in games requiring a physical midfield duo, the Chelsea loanee has been unable to prove he is either of those things for the time being.
With just 262 minutes of football to his name, spread over six appearances, the 24-year-old hasn’t set foot on a Serie A pitch since September 27th, coming on for the final 11 minutes of a 1-1 draw to FC Empoli.
Furthermore, the fact Milan have won every game in the league he hasn’t made an appearance in won’t be doing him any favours.
That’s why it isn’t a surprise to see Il Messaggero, when reviewing the flops of the summer transfer window, state that his ‘redemption’ at the end of the season is ‘heavily at risk’.
Having already paid Chelsea €5m up front for the loan, and with the arrival of Lucas Paqueta in January for around €35m, it would now be very surprising to see Gennaro Gattuso’s side hand over another €30m+ to the Blues for a player they appear to have very little or no faith in.
This echoes what Corriere dello Sport were saying a few days ago, in that Milan are prepared to give him 6-8 games to prove himself between now and January, and will ‘go in a different direction’ if he fails to do so.
