Chelsea are in talks with Galatasaray about a potential loan deal for Tiemoue Bakayoko, according to a report by the London Evening Standard.
The France international is thought to be one member of Frank Lampard’s side that is expendable this summer as it is believed that he did not do enough to have impressed the manager to hand him another chance in trying to revive his Stamford Bridge career.
After spending last season on loan at AC Milan, the midfielder was recently left out of the friendly squads for their matches against Red Bull Salzburg and Borussia Monchengladbach and remained at Cobham.
Goal recently claimed Bakayoko was on a list of players that would be allowed to leave the club this summer, which is hardly surprising after how horrible his first season in English football was following his £40million move from AS Monaco turned out.
According to data collected by WhoScored, he managed to average 2.2 tackles and 1.3 interceptions in his 29 Premier League appearances, which were slightly lower than the 2.2 and 1.8 respectively he recorded at Monaco a year before and the 2.3 tackles and 1.6 interceptions he had last season with AC Milan whilst on loan, where he irked the criticism of Gennaro Gattuso.
Lampard was highly critical of him when he was in a punditry role before throwing his hat into the managerial ring as he slammed the one-time France international midfielder for his poor performance against Atletico Madrid back in 2017 and it does not appear as though he has done enough to change his mind.
It isn’t the only time he was criticised for his displays in a Chelsea shirt, with Jamie Redknapp slating him as well. Following their 3-0 defeat to Newcastle United, he said on Sky Sports (via The Metro): “I didn’t see him sprint once. He didn’t even break sweat. Newcastle wanted it more. I felt sorry for [N’Golo] Kante, he had no support whatsoever. Everything about that performance was so poor.”
Bakayoko was recently handed the number 14 shirt once again in the latest release of squad numbers (via the club’s official website), however the Blues are thought to have too many players to satisfy Premier League squad rules.
With the likes of N’Golo Kante and Jorginho playing similar roles to him, it would have been difficult to see him involved regularly, whilst his omission from the friendly matches against Red Bull Salzburg and Monchengladbach were perhaps signs that he would not be playing a major role for the club in the upcoming campaign.
It should not come as a surprise to see that Bakayoko could be on his way out of Stamford Bridge this summer as there are so many factors going against his chances of ever making an impact in Lampard’s side.
Since his arrival, Chelsea have made other additions in the same area of the pitch with the likes of Mateo Kovacic and Jorginho, whilst the likes of Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Ross Barkley have started to emerge as excellent midfield options for the Blues to consider.
Whether an agreement between Galatasaray and Bakayoko can be met remains to be seen, but it might be best that one did for everybody involved.
Chelsea fans, do you think the club will be able to offload Bakayoko this summer? Let us know your thoughts by sharing them in the comments section below!
