Bought from Monaco after their title winning season, Tiemoué Bakayoko was meant to be a big part of Chelsea’s future.
Spending £36m on the defensive midfielder, the Premier League side had a lot of belief in his ability, but unfortunately for all parties, it just didn’t work out.
Despite playing a fair bit under Antonio Conte, the Frenchman never convinced, and after it was made clear Maurizio Sarri had no interest in using him, a loan to Milan was organised.
Barring a difficult start in Italy, Bakayoko actually had a good season in Serie A, but the option to purchase him permanently was too expensive for Marco Giampaolo’s current side, and he returned to Stamford Bridge.
Things didn’t get any better under Frank Lampard earlier this season, who had other ideas for his midfielder, and so another exit had to be sorted.
This time, a return to Monaco became a reality, and Bakayoko has helped the principality side turn their disappointing start to the season around, with a little help from fellow loanee Islam Slimani.
He said, relayed by Eurosport: “Playing in those two great clubs [Chelsea and Milan] helped me develop, helped become who I am today. I don’t really want to talk about Chelsea because I don’t want to get on their bad side.
“There are reasons. There are things that aren’t explainable. Things that will stay between me and them. It didn’t click, at least not how I wanted to. Yes, there’s a bit of disappointment, but sometimes in life there’s disappointment but you need to carry on”.
Monaco have an option to buy Bakayoko at any time during the loan, and at the rate things are going, it’s something they might seriously consider.
For the midfielder, at least, a return to Chelsea doesn’t seem to in his plans going forward.
