Bought from Monaco coming off the back of their title winning season, Tiemoué Bakayoko was a big investment for Chelsea.
The Stamford Bridge side spent around €40m on the defensive midfielder to help Antonio Conte in his second season in charge, but it unfortunately didn’t go to plan for both player and club.
While he did make 43 appearances that year, he never performed at the same level that he did in Monaco, which caused frustration within the Chelsea fanbase and led to a loan to Milan the following season.
Speaking to Team Duga on RMC Sport, Bakayoko was asked why he felt things just hadn’t gone to plan in London.
He said: “It’s true that it was difficult as months went by. Like you said, at first, it went rather well, but I had a really, really important injury after my arrival at Chelsea, so physically I never found myself throughout the season, so I think there was also that that stopped me from showing my best over there.”
Once returned from Milan, where he originally struggled before imposing himself, there was some questions as to whether he would be used by Frank Lampard, but that never appeared to be the case, which left Bakayoko little choice but to look elsewhere to get game time.
On his return to the principality on a loan with a view to buy, he said: “Yeah, it’s not the same Monaco, but there’s also things that I have no control over, like staying at Milan or playing at Chelsea. I’m not the only one making a decision.
“There was a point when I didn’t have the feeling that those clubs had a real desire to count on me, and Monaco came at that time, so I felt it was the best possible idea to play, which is what matters.”
It’s now up to Monaco whether or not he stays in Ligue 1 going forward, but if they don’t, he will have to return to Stamford Bridge, where he is contracted to until 2022.
This means that unless something drastically changes, he will have to, yet again, find himself another club.
This could have led him to regret his decision to sign for Chelsea back in 2017 when Paris Saint-Germain were also interested, but that simply isn’t the case, as he explained: “I think Chelsea was the right choice. I liked being there. That season really helped me, even if football wise it didn’t go how I wanted it to, but no, in no way do I regret it.”
