When Chelsea decided to spend a lot of money to sign Tiemoué Bakayoko from AS Monaco all those years ago, it appeared like a great deal.
The Frenchman had formed a great partnership with Fabinho at the heart of the principality club’s midfield, and he looked ready for the Premier League.
Antonio Conte was the manager at the time, and he played a fair bit during his first season at Stamford Bridge, only for everything to change soon after that.
Loan moves to Milan, Monaco, Napoli and Milan once again were meant to help him find form again, but apart from his first spell at San Siro, he has failed to impact much.
This second loan with the Serie A side, which was organised during the summer of 2021 for two years, has been nothing short of a disaster, as Bakayoko has completely failed to convince Stefano Pioli, who has yet to use him this season.
The situation has led to many rumours about the player potentially returning to Chelsea early in January, where he has a contract until 2024.
He said: “It’s a situation that makes me sad because a year and a half ago, this transfer was strongly desired. In recent years, he has always travelled on loan, every year he had to change, settle in a new reality, bring his family to a new city. Returning to Milan with a two-year loan with a right to purchase that became an obligation under certain conditions made him happy.
“It seemed we had reached the end of this situation, but because of either the explosion of some players or due to injury, due to situations that got a little twisted, the second adventure at Milan didn’t work. The current status quo doesn’t do anyone any good. I’m very sorry.”
As for what the future holds for the Chelsea midfielder, he added: “We’ll see, we’ll calmly evaluate the opportunities with Milan. He has another year of contract with Chelsea after the current one. We’ll look around together.”
