As far as Tiemoué Bakayoko was concerned a few weeks ago, he was heading to Milan and leaving Chelsea behind for another year.
The midfielder doesn’t enter in Frank Lampard’s plans at Stamford Bridge, and with the Serie A side looking for a new body where he plays at the time, it all made a lot of sense.
Then came Sandro Tonali, and everything changed, as their need for a midfielder dwindled, and the move was no longer a priority.
This led to the Frenchman idly waiting for new avenues, with one maybe opening up for him now, four days before the end of the transfer window.
It comes in the shape of Napoli, where Gennaro Gattuso, his manager during his loan spell at Milan two seasons ago, is in charge.
Corriere dello Sport are reporting on Thursday that Bakayoko ‘was proposed’ to the Serie A club, and his profile, filled with ‘muscles and inches’ as well as much needed ‘international experience’, is the ‘right one’.
That being said, they make it clear ‘the costs of the operation aren’t exactly contained’, meaning they might be a bit out of the club’s price range.
We’ll have to wait and see, but Bakayoko’s name is certainly one that will be mentioned a lot in the coming days, as Chelsea need to find him an exit and he needs minutes next season instead of just sitting on the bench in London, or worse, in the stands.
